A   CASTILLA  Y  A^LEON 
NUEVO  MUNDO  D1O   COLON 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


OTtnsor. 


NARRATIVE  AND  CRITICAL  HISTORY  OF  AMER 
ICA.  With  Bibliographical  and  Descriptive  Essays  on 
its  Historical  Sources  and  Authorities.  Profusely  illus 
trated  with  portraits,  maps,  facsimiles,  etc.  Edited  by 
JUSTIN  WINSOR,  Librarian  of  Harvard  University,  with 
the  cooperation  of  a  Committee  from  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  and  with  the  aid  of  other  learned 
Societies.  In  eight  royal  8vo  volumes.  Each  volume, 
net,  $5.50;  sheep,  net,  $6.50;  half  morocco,  net,  $7.50. 
(Sold  only  by  subscription  for  the  entire  set.) 

READER'S  HANDBOOK  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REV 
OLUTION.  i6mo,  $1.25. 

WAS  SHAKESPEARE  SHAPLEIGH?  i6mo,  rubri 
cated  parchment  paper,  75  cents. 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS.  With  portrait  and 
maps.  8vo,  gilt  top,  $4.00. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  COMPANY, 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK. 


BEHAIM,    1492. 


AMERICA,    1892. 


CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS 


AND    HOW  HE    RECEIVED  AND 

IMPARTED  THE   SPIRIT 

OF  DISCOVERY 


BY 


JUSTIN  WINSOR 


Vera  pro  gratis 


FIFTH  EDITION,  REVISED 


BOSTON  AND    NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 
<&&e  fitoers'i&e  press, 
1892 


Copyright,  1891, 
Br  JUSTIN  WINSOE. 

All  rights  reserved. 


FIFTH   EDITION. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  (X  Houghton  &  Co. 


To  FRANCIS  PARKMAN,  LL.  D., 

THE  HISTORIAN  OF  NEW  FRANCE. 


DEAR  PARKMAN  :  — 

You  and  I  have  not  followed  the  maritime  peoples  of  western  Europe 
in  planting  and  defending  their  flags  on  the  American  shores  without 
observing  the  strange  fortunes  of  the  Italians,  in  that  they  have  provided 
pioneers  for  those  Atlantic  nations  without  having  once  secured  in  the 
New  World  a  foothold  for  themselves. 

When  Venice  gave  her  Cabot  to  England  and  Florence  bestowed 
Verrazano  upon  France,  these  explorers  established  the  territorial 
claims  of  their  respective  and  foster  motherlands,  leading  to  those  con 
trasts  and  conflicts  which  it  has  been  your  fortune  to  illustrate  as  no 
one  else  has. 

When  Genoa  gave  Columbus  to  Spain  and  Florence  accredited  her 
Vespucius  to  Portugal,  these  adjacent  powers,  whom  the  Bull  of  De 
marcation  would  have  kept  asunder  in  the  new  hemisphere,  established 
their  rival  races  in  middle  and  southern  America,  neighboring  as  in 
the  Old  World ;  but  their  contrasts  and  conflicts  have  never  had  so 
worthy  a  historian  as  you  have  been  for  those  of  the  north. 

The  beginnings  of  their  commingled  history  I  have  tried  to  relate  in 
the  present  work,  and  I  turn  naturally  to  associate  in  it  the  name  of 
the  brilliant  historian  of  FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND  IN  NORTH  AMERICA 
with  that  of  your  obliged  friend, 


CAMBRIDGE,  June,  1890. 


CONTENTS   AND   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

PAGE 

SOURCES,  AND  THE  GATHERERS  OF  THEM 1 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Manuscript  of  Columbus,  2  ;  the  Genoa  Custo- 
dia,  5  ;  Columbus's  Letter  to  the  Bank  of  St.  George,  6  ;  Co- 
lumbus's  Annotations  on  the  Imago  Mundi,  8  ;  First  Page, 
Columbus's  First  Letter,  Latin  edition  (1493),  16  ;  Archive  de 
Simancas,  24. 

CHAPTER  II. 

BIOGRAPHERS  AND  PORTRAITISTS 30 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Page  of  the  Giustiniani  Psalter,  31  ;  Notes  of 
Ferdinand  Columbus  on  his  Books,  42  ;  Las  Casas,  48  ;  Roselly 
de  Lorgues,  53  ;  St.  Christopher,  a  Vignette  on  La  Cosa's  Map 
(1500),  62  ;  Earliest  Engraved  Likeness  of  Columbus  in  Jovius, 
63  ;  the  Florence  Columbus,  65  ;  the  Yanez  Columbus,  66  ;  a 
Reproduction  of  the  Capriolo  Cut  of  Columbus,  67  ;  De  Bry's 
Engraving  of  Columbus,  68  ;  the  Bust  on  the  Tomb  at  Havana, 
69. 

CHAPTER   III. 
THE  ANCESTRY  AND  HOME  OF  COLUMBUS  .  .    .    71 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  UNCERTAINTIES  OF  THE  EARLY  LIFE  OF  COLUMBUS     ....     79 
ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Drawing  ascribed  to  Columbus,  80 ;  Benincasa's 
Map  (1476),  81  ;  Ship  of  the  Fifteenth  Century,  82. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  ALLUREMENTS  OF  PORTUGAL 85 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Part  of  the  Laurentian  Portolano,  87  ;  Map  of 
Andrea  Bianco,  89 ;  Prince  Henry,  the  Navigator,  93  ;  Astro- 


viii  CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

labes  of  Regiomontanus,  95,  96  ;  Sketch  Map  of  African  Dis 
covery,  98  ;  Fra  Mauro's  World-Map,  99  ;  Tomb  of  Prince 
Henry  at  Batalha,  100  ;  Statue  of  Prince  Henry  at  Belem,  101. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL 103 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Toscanelli's  Map  restored,  110  ;  Map  of  Eastern 
Asia,  with  Old  and  New  Names,  113  ;  Catalan  Map  of  Eastern 
Asia  (1375),  114 ;  Marco  Polo,  115  ;  Albertus  Magnus,  120  ; 
the  Laon  Globe,  123  ;  Oceanic  Currents,  130  ;  Tables  of  Regio 
montanus  (1474-1506),  132  ;  Map  of  the  African  Coast  (1478), 
133  ;  Martin  Behaim,  134. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

WAS  COLUMBUS  IN  THE  NORTH  ? 135 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Map  of  Olaus  Magnus  (1539),  136  ;  Map  of 
Claudius  Clavus  (1427),  141  ;  Bordoue's  Map  (1528),  142  ; 
Map  of  Sigurd  Stephanus  (1570),  145. 

• 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL  FOR  SPAIN.    .    .    .    .    .    »    .    .    .  149 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Portuguese  Mappemonde  (1490),  152  ;  Pere 
Juan  Perez  de  Marchena,  155  ;  University  of  Salamanca,  162  ; 
Monument  to  Columbus  at  Genoa,  163  ;  Ptolemy's  Map  of  Spain 
(1482),  165  ;  Cathedral  of  Seville,  171  ;  Cathedral  of  Cordoba, 
172. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  THE  FIRST  VOYAGE,  1492  .  .  .  .178 
ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Behaim 's  Globe  (1492),  186, 187  ;  Doppelmayer's 
Reproduction  of  this  Globe,  188,  189  ;  the  actual  America  in  Re 
lation  to  Behaim's  Geography,  190  ;  Ships  of  Columbus's  Time, 
192,  193  ;  Map  of  the  Canary  Islands,  194  ;  Map  of  the  Routes 
of  Columbus,  196  ;  of  his  track  in  1492, 197  ;  Map  of  the  Agonic 
Line,  199  ;  Lapis  Polaris. Magnes,  200  ;  Map  of  Polar  Regions 
by  Mercator  (1569),  202  ;  Map  of  the  Landfall  of  Columbus, 
210  ;  Columbus's  Armor,  211  ;  Maps  of  the  Bahamas  (1601 
and  modern),  212,  213. 


CHAPTER  X. 

AMONG  THE  ISLANDS  AND  THE  RETURN  VOYAGE 218 

ILLUSTRATION  :  Indian  Beds,  222. 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  ix 


CHAPTER  XI. 

COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN  ;  MARCH  TO  SEPTEMBER,  1493      .     .     .  243 
ILLUSTRATIONS:   The  Arms  of  Columbus,  250;  Pope  .Alexander 
VI.,  253  ;  Crossbow-Maker,  258  ;  Clock-Maker,  260. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  SECOND  VOYAGE,  1493-1494 264 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Map  of  Guadaloupe,  Marie  Galante,  and  Domi 
nica,  267  ;  Cannibal  Islands,  269. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SECOND  VOYAGE,  CONTINUED,  1494 284 

ILLUSTRATION  :  Mass  on  Shore,  298. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  SECOND  VOYAGE,  CONTINUED,  1494-1496 303 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Map  of  the  Native  Divisions  of  Espanola,  306  ; 
Map  of  Spanish  Settlements  in  Espaiiola,  321. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IN  SPAIN,  1496-1498.     DA  GAMA,  VESPUCIUS,  CABOT 325 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  328  ;  Bartholomew  Co 
lumbus,  329  ;  Vasco  Da  Gama,  334  ;  Map  of  South  Africa 
(1513),  335  ;  Earliest  Representation  of  South  American  Na 
tives,  336. 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE  THIRD  VOYAGE,  1498-1500 347 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Map  of  the  Gulf  of  Paria,  353  ;  Pre-Columbian 
Mappemonde,  restored,  357  ;  Ramusio's  Map  of  Espanola,  369  ; 
La  Cosa's  Map  (1500),  380,  381  ;  Ribero's  Map  of  the  Antilles 
(1529),  383  ;  Wytfliet's  Cuba,  384,  385. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT  OF  COLUMBUS  (1500)    .  388 
ILLUSTRATION  :  Santo  Domingo,  391. 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN,  1500-1502       407 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  First  Page  of  the  Mundus  Novus,  411  ;  Map  of 
the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  413  ;  Manuscript  of  Caspar  Cortereal, 
414  ;  of  Miguel  Cortereal,  416  ;  the  Cantino  Map,  419. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  FOURTH  VOYAGE,  1502-1504 437 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Bellin's  Map  of  Honduras,  443  ;  of  Veragua, 
446. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

COLUMBUS'S  LAST  YEARS.     DEATH  AND  CHARACTER 477 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  House  where  Columbus  died,  490  ;  Cathedral  at 
Santo  Domingo,  493  ;  Statue  of  Columbus  at  Santo  Domingo, 
495. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  DESCENT  OF  COLUMBUS'S  HONORS 513 

ILLUSTRATIONS  :  Pope  Julius  II.,  517  ;  Charles  the  Fifth,  519 ; 
Ruins  of  Diego  Colon's  House,  521. 

* 

APPENDIX. 

THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS 529 

ILLUSTRATIONS:  Ptolemy,  530;  Map  by  Donis  (1482),  531;  Ruysch's 
Map  (1508),  532;  the  so-called  Admiral's  Map  (1513),  534;  Mun- 
ster's  Map  (1532),  535  ;  Title-Page  of  the  Globus  Mundi,  352  ; 
of  Eden's  Treatyse  of  the  Newe  India,  537  ;  Vespucius,  539 ; 
Title  of  the  Cosmographies  Introductio,  541  ;  Map  in  Ptolemy 
(1513),  544,  545  ;  the  Tross  Gores,  547  ;  the  Hauslab  Globe, 
548  ;  the  Nordenskiold  Gores,  549  ;  Map  by  Apianus  (1520), 
550  ;  Schoner's  Globe  (1515),  551  ;  Frisius's  Map  (1522),  552  ; 
Peter  Martyr's  Map  (1511),  557  ;  Ponce  de  Leon,  558  ;  his 
tracks  on  the  Florida  Coast,  559  ;  Ayllon's  Map,  561 ;  Balboa, 
563 ;  Grijalva,  566  ;  Globe  in  Schoner's  Opusculum,  567  ;  Ga- 
ray's  Map  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  568  ;  Cortes's  Map  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  569  ;  the  Maiolld  Map  (1527),  570  ;  the  Lenox 
Globe,  571  ;  Schoner's  Globe  (1520),  572  ;  Magellan,  573  ;  Ma 
gellan's  Straits  by  Pizafetta,  575  ;  Modern  Map  of  the  Straits, 
576  ;  Freire's  Map  (1546),  578  ;  Sylvanus's  Map  in  Ptolemy 
(1511),  579;  Stobnicza's  Map,  580;  the  Alleged  Da  Vinci 


CONTENTS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  xi 

Sketch-Map,  582  ;  Reisch's  Map  (1515),  583  ;  Pomponius  Me 
la's  World-Map,  584  ;  Vadianus,  585  ;  Apianus,  586  ;  Schoner, 
588  ;  Rosenthal  or  Nuremberg  Gores,  590  ;  the  Martyr-Oviedo 
Map  (1534),  592,  593  ;  the  Verrazano  Map,  594  ;  Sketch  of  Ag- 
nese's  Map  (1536),  595  ;  Minister's  Map  (1540),  596,  597  ;  Mi 
chael  Lok's  Map  (1582),  598  ;  John  White's  Map,  599  ;  Robert 
Thome's  Map  (1527),  600  ;  Sebastian  Miinster,  602  ;  House  and 
Library  of  Ferdinand  Columbus,  604  ;  Spanish  Map  (1527),  605  ; 
the  Nancy  Globe,  606,  607  ;  Map  of  Orontius  Finseus  (1532), 
608  ;  the  same,  reduced  to  Mercator's  projection,  609  ;  Cortes, 
610  ;  Castillo's  California,  611  ;  Extract  from  an  old  Portolano 
of  the  northeast  Coast  of  North  America,  613  ;  Homem's  Map 
(1558),  614  ;  Ziegler's  Schondia,  615  ;  Ruscelli's  Map  (1544), 
616  ;  Carta  Marina  (1548),  617  ;  Myritius's  Map  (1590),  618  ; 
Zaltiere's  Map  (1566),  619;  Porcacchi's  Map  (1572),  620; 
Mercator's  Globe  (1538),  622,  623  ;  Miinster's  America  (1545), 

624  ;  Mercator's  Gores  (1541),  reduced  to  a  plane  projection, 

625  ;   Sebastian  Cabot's  Mappemonde  (1544),  626  ;  Medina's 
Map  (1544),  628,  629  ;  Wytfliet's  America  (1597),  630,  631  ; 
the  Cross-Staff,  632  ;  the  Zeni  Map,  634,  635  ;  the  Map  in  the 
Warsaw  Codex  (1467),  636,  637  ;  Mercator's  America  (1569), 
638  ;  Portrait  of  Mercator,  639  ;  of  Ortelius,  640  ;  Map  by  Or- 
telius   (1570),  641  ;    Sebastian   Cabot,  642  ;    Frobisher,  643  ; 
Frobisher's  Chart  (1578),  644  ;  Francis  Drake,  645  ;  Gilbert's 
Map  (1576),  647  ;  the  Back-Staff,  648  ;  Luke  Fox's  Map  of  the 
Arctic  Regions  (1635),  651  ;  Hennepin's  Map  of  Jesso,  653  ; 
Domina  Farrer's  Map  {1651),  654,  655  ;  Buache's  Theory  of 
North  American  Geography  (1752),  656  ;   Map  of   Bering's 
Straits,  657  ;  Map  of  the  Northwest  Passage,  659. 


INDEX 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

SOURCES,  AND  THE  GATHERERS  OF  THEM. 

IN  considering  the  sources  of  information,  which  are  original, 
as  distinct  from  those  which  are  derivative,  we  must  place  first 
in  importance  the  writings  of  Columbus  himself.  We  may 
place  next  the  documentary  proofs  belonging  to  private  and 
public  archives. 

Harrisse  points  out  that  Columbus,  in  his  time,  acquired  such 
a  popular  reputation  for  prolixity  that  a  court  fool  of  Charles 
the   Fifth  linked  the   discoverer  of   the  Indies  with  His 
Ptolemy  as  twins  in  the  art   of  blotting.     He  wrote  Prolixity- 
as  easily  as  people  of  rapid  impulses  usually  do,  when  they  are 
not  restrained  by  habits  of  orderly  deliberation.    He  has  left  us 
a  mass  of  jumbled  thoughts  and  experiences,  which,  unfortu 
nately,  often  perplex  the  historian,  while  they  of  necessity  aid 
him. 

Ninety-seven  distinct  pieces  of  writing  by  the  hand  of  Colum 
bus  either  exist  or  are  known  to  have  existed.  Of  His 
such,  whether  memoirs,  relations,  or  letters,  sixty-  writin&8- 
four  are  preserved  in  their  entirety.  These  include  twenty-four 
which  are  wholly  or  in  part  in  his  own  hand.  All  of  them  have 
been  printed  entire,  except  one  which  is  in  the  Biblioteca  Co- 
lombina,  in  Seville,  the  Libro  de  las  Proficias,  written  appar 
ently  between  1501  and  1504,  of  which  only  part  is  in  Colum- 
bus's  own  hand.  A  second  document,  a  memoir  addressed  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  before  June,  1497,  is  now  in  the  col 
lection  of  the  Marquis  of  San  Roman  at  Madrid,  and  was 
printed  for  the  first  time  by  Harrisse  in  his  Christophe  Oo- 
lomb.  A  third  and  fourth  are  in  the  public  archives  in  Ma 
drid,  being  letters  addressed  to  the  Spanish  monarchs  :  one  with 
out  date  in  1496  or  1497,  or  perhaps  earlier,  in  1493,  and  the 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


other  February  6, 1502 ;  and  both  have  been  printed  and  given 
in  facsimile  in  the  Cartas  de  Indias,  a  collection  published  by 


MANUSCRIPT  OP  COLUMBUS. 

[From  a  MS.  in  the  Biblioteca  Colombina,  given  in  Harrisse's  Notes  on  Columbus.] 

the  Spanish  government  in  1877.  The  majority  of  the  existing 
private  papers  of  Columbus  are  preserved  in  Spain,  in  the 
hands  of  the  present  representative  of  Columbus,  the  Duke  of 
Veragua,  and  these  have  all  been  printed  in  the  great  collec 
tion  of  Navarrete.  They  consist,  as  enumerated  by  Harrisse  in 
his  Columbus  and  the  Bank  of  Saint  George,  of  the  following 
pieces :  a  single  letter  addressed  about  the  year  1500  to  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella;  four  letters  addressed  to  Father  Gaspar 
Gorricio,  —  one  from  San  Lucar,  April  4,  1502 ;  a  second  from 
the  Grand  Canaria,  May,  1502 ;  a  third  from  Jamaica,  July  7, 
1503 ;  and  the  last  from  Seville,  January  4,  1505  ;  —  a  memo 
rial  addressed  to  his  son,  Diego,  written  either  in  December, 
1504,  or  in  January,  1505  ;  and  eleven  letters  addressed  also  to 
Diego,  all  from  Seville,  late  in  1504  or  early  in  1505. 

Without  exception,  the  letters  of  Columbus  of  which  we  have 

Allin  knowledge  were  written    in    Spanish.     Harrisse   has 

conjectured  that  his  stay  in  Spain  made  him  a  better 

master  of  that  language  than  the  poor  advantages  of  his  early 

life  had  made  him  of  his  mother  tongue. 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  3 

Columbus  was  more  careful  of  the  documentary  proofs  of  his 
titles  and  privileges,  granted  in  consequence  of  his  Hig 
discoveries,  than  of  his  own  writings.  He  had  more  Prmle»es- 
solicitude  to  protect,  by  such  records,  the  pecuniary  and  titular 
rights  of  his  descendants  than  to  preserve  those  personal  papers 
which,  in  the  eyes  of  the  historian,  are  far  more  valuable. 
These  attested  evidences  of  his  rights  were  for  a  while  in 
closed  in  an  iron  chest,  kept  at  his  tomb  in  the  monastery  of 
Las  Cuevas,  near  Seville,  and  they  remained  down  to  1609  in 
the  custody  of  the  Carthusian  friars  of  that  convent.  At  this 
date,  Nuno  de  Portugallo  having  been  declared  the  heir  to  the 
estate  and  titles  of  Columbus,  the  papers  were  transferred  to  his 
keeping ;  and  in  the  end,  by  legal  decision,  they  passed  to  that 
Duke  of  Veragua  who  was  the  grandfather  of  the  present  duke, 
who  in  due  time  inherited  these  public  memorials,  and  now  pre 
serves  them  in  Madrid. 

In  1502  there  were  copies  made  in  book  form,  known  as  the 
Codex  Dinlomaticus.  of    these    and   other   pertinent 

.    .  f.  |  .  .  Codex 

documents,  raising  the  number  from  thirty -six  to  Dipiomati- 
forty-four.  These  copies  were  attested  at  Seville,  by 
order  of  the  Admiral,  who  then  aimed  to  place  them  so  that 
the  record  of  his  deeds  and  rights  should  not  be  lost.  Two 
copies  seem  to  have  been  sent  by  him  through  different  chan 
nels  to  Nicolo  Oderigo,  the  Genoese  ambassador  in  Madrid; 
and  in  1670  both  of  these  copies  came  from  a  descendant  of 
that  ambassador  as  a  gift  to  the  Republic  of  Genoa.  Both 
of  these  later  disappeared  from  its  archives.  A  third  copy 
was  sent  to  Alonso  Sanchez  de  Carvajal,  the  factor  of  Colum 
bus  in  Espanola,  and  this  copy  is  not  now  known.  A  fourth 
copy  was  deposited  in  the  monastery  of  Las  Cuevas,  near 
Seville,  to  be  later  sent  to  Father  Gorricio.  It  is  very  likely 
this  last  copy  which  is  mentioned  by  Edward  Everett  in  a 
note  to  his  oration  at  Plymouth  (^Boston,  1825,  p.  64),  where, 
referring  to  the  two  copies  sent  to  Oderigo  as  the  only  ones 
made  by  the  order  of  Columbus,  as  then  understood,  he  adds  : 
"  Whether  the  two  manuscripts  thus  mentioned  be  the  only 
ones  in  existence  may  admit  of  doubt.  When  I  was  in  Flor 
ence,  in  1818,  a  small  folio  manuscript  was  brought  to  me, 
written  on  parchment,  apparently  two  or  three  centuries  old, 
in  binding  once  very  rich,  but  now  worn,  containing  a  series  of 


4  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

documents  in  Latin  and  Spanish,  with  the  following  title  on 
the  first  blank  page :  i  Treslado  de  las  Bullas  del  Papa  Alex- 
andro  VI.,  de  la  concession  de  las  Indias  y  los  titulos,  privile- 
gios  y  cedulas  reales,  que  se  dieron  a  Christoval  Colon.'  I  was 
led  by  this  title  to  purchase  the  book."  After  referring  to  the 
Codice,  then  just  published,  he  adds :  "  I  was  surprised  to 
find  my  manuscript,  as  far  as  it  goes,  nearly  identical  in  its 
contents  with  that  of  Genoa,  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  only 
two  in  existence.  My  manuscript  consists  of  almost  eighty 
closely  written  folio  pages,  which  coincide  precisely  with  the 
text  of  the  first  thirty-seven  documents,  contained  in  two  hun 
dred  and  forty  pages  of  the  Genoese  volume." 

Caleb  Gushing  says  of  the  Everett  manuscript,  which  he  had. 
examined  before  he  wrote  of  it  in  the  North  American  Review^ 
October,  1825,  that,  "  so  far  as  it  goes,  it  is  a  much  more  per- 
.  feet  one  than  the  Oderigo  manuscript,  as  several  passages  which 
Spotorno  was  unable  to  decipher  in  the  latter  are  very  plain 
and  legible  in  the  former,  which  indeed  is  in  most  complete 
preservation."  I  am  sorry  to  learn  from  Dr.  William  Everett 
that  this  manuscript  is  not  at  present  easily  accessible. 

Of  the  two  copies  named  above  as  having  disappeared  from 
the  archives  of  Genoa,  Harrisse  at  a  late  day  found  one  in 
the  archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  Paris. 
It  had  been  taken  to  Paris  in  1811,  when  Napoleon  I.  caused 
the  archives  of  Genoa  to  be  sent  to  that  city,  and  it  was  not 
returned  when  the  chief  part  of  the  documents  was  recovered 
by  Genoa  in  1815.  The  other  copy  was  in  1816  among  the 
papers  of  Count  Cambiaso,  and  was  bought  by  the  Sardinian 
government,  and  given  to  the  city  of  Genoa,  where  it  is  now 
deposited  in  a  marble  custodia,  which,  surmounted  by  a  bust  of 
Columbus,  stands  at  present  in  the  main  hall  of  the  palace  of 
the  municipality.  This  "  custodia  "  is  a  pillar,  in  which  a  door 
of  gilded  bronze  closes  the  receptacle  that  contains  the  relics, 
which  are  themselves  inclosed  in  a  bag  of  Spanish  leather, 
richly  embossed.  A  copy  of  this  last  document  was  made  and 
placed  in  the  archives  at  Turin. 

These  papers,  as  selected  by  Columbus  for  preservation,  were 
edited  by  Father  Spotorno  at  Genoa,  in  1823,  in  a 
volume  called  Codice  diplomatico  Colombo- Ameri 
cano,  and  published  by  authority  of  the  state.  There 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION. 


was  an  English  edition  at 
London,  in  1823 ;  and  a 
Spanish  at  Havana,  in 
1867.  Spotorno  was  re 
printed,  with  additional 
matter,  at  Genoa,  in  1857, 
as  La  Tavola  di  Bronzo,  il 
pallia  di  seta,  ed  il  Codice 
ColomboamericanO)  nuo- 
uamente  illustrati  per  cura 
di  Giuseppe  Banchero. 

This  Spotorno  volume  in 
cluded  two  additional  let 
ters  of  Columbus,  not  yet 
mentioned,  and  addressed, 
March  21,  1502,  and  De 
cember  27,  1504,  to  Ode- 
rigo.  They  were  found 
pasted  in  the  duplicate 
copy  of  the  papers  given  to 
Genoa,  and  are  now  pre 
served  in  a  glass  case,  in 
the  same  custodia.  A  third 
letter,  April  2,  1502,  ad 
dressed  to  the  governors  of 
the  bank  of  St.  George,  was 
omitted  by  Spotorno ;  but 
it  is  given  by  Harrisse  in 
his  Columbus 
and  the  Bank  of  the  Bank  of 

0      .  ~  ^      St.  George. 

baint  George 
(New  York,  1888).  This 
last  was  one  of  two  letters, 
which  Columbus  sent,  as 
he  says,  to  the  bank,  but 
the  other  has  not  been 
found.  The  history  of  the 
one  preserved  is  traced  by 
Harrisse  in  the  work  last 
mentioned,  and  there  are 


THE   GENOA   CUSTODIA. 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


?  *&• 


/  **& 

' 


/ 


/ 


A 


/*    ,  /n  .,  '/"      /;/ 

*^  j^*  2/C  *+~**g*+f*  jfao   ^ 


^^^r^^ji^^^^ 


y 


COLUMBUS'S  LETTER,   APRIL  2,   1502,   ADDRESSED  TO  THE  BANK   OF  ST 
GEORGE  IN  GENOA. 

[Reduced  in  size  by  photographic  process.] 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.    v  7 

lithographic  and  photographic  reproductions  of  it.  Harrisse's 
work  just  referred  to  was  undertaken  to  prove  the  forgery  of  a 
manuscript  which  has  within  a  few  years  been  offered  for  sale, 
either  as  a  duplicate  of  the  one  at  Genoa,  or  as  the  original. 
When  represented  as  the  original,  the  one  at  Genoa  is  pro 
nounced  a  facsimile  of  it.  Harrisse  seems  to  have  proved  the 
forgery  of  the  one  which  is  seeking  a  purchaser. 

Some  manuscript  marginalia  found  in  three  different  books, 
used  by  Columbus  and  preserved  in  the  Biblioteca 
Colombina  at  Seville,  are  also  remnants  of  the  auto 
graphs  of  Columbus.  These  marginal  notes  are  in  copies  of 
jJEneas  Sylvius's  Historia  JKerum  ubique  gestarum  (Venice, 
1477)  of  a  Latin  version  of  Marco  Polo  (Antwerp,  I486?), 
and  of  Pierre  d'Ailly's  De  Imagine  Mundi  (perhaps  1490) r 
though  there  is  some  suspicion  that  these  last-mentioned  notes 
may  be  those  of  Bartholomew,  and  not  of  Christopher,  Colum 
bus.  These  books  have  been  particularly  described  in  Jose 
Silverio  Jorrin's  Varios  Autografos  ineditos  de  Cristobal 
Colon,  published  at  Havana  in  1888.  In  May,  1860,  Jose 
Maria  Fernandez  y  Velasco,  the  librarian  of  the  Biblioteca 
Colombina,  discovered  a  Latin  text  of  the  letter  of  Toscanelli, 
written  by  Columbus  in  this  same  copy  of  2Eneas  Toscanem'a 
Sylvius.  He  believed  it  a  Latin  version  of  a  letter  letter> 
originally  written  in  Italian;  but  it  was  left  for  Harrisse  to 
discover  that  the  Latin  was  the  original  draft.  A  facsimile  of 
this  script  is  in  Harrisse's  Fernando  Colon  (Seville,  1871), 
and  specimens  of  the  marginalia  were  first  given  by  Harrisse  in 
his  Notes  on  Columbus,  whence  they  are  reproduced  in  part  in 
the  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America  (vol.  ii.). 

It  is  understood  that,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Italian  gov 
ernment,  an  editorial   committee    is  at  present    engaged  with 

preparing;  a  national  memorial  issue  of  the  writings 

f  ^i         i  -i  •     Italian 

or  Columbus,  somewhat  in  accordance  with  a  proposi-  memorial  of 

TT          •  i         -m/r«     •  <•    T»    i  i»       T          Columbus. 

tion  made  by  Harrisse  to  the  Minister  or  .rublic  In 
struction  at  Rome  in  his  Le  Quatrieme  Centenaire  de  la  De- 
couverte  du  Nouveau  Monde  (Genoa,  1887). 

There  are  references  to  other  works  of  Columbus  which  I 
have  not  seen,  as  a  Declaracion  de  Tabla  Navigatoria, 
annexed  to  a  treatise,  Del  Uso  de  la    Carta  de  Na-  printed 
vegar,  by  Dr.  Grajales ;  a  Tratado  de  las  Cinco  Zo- 
nas  Habitables,  which  Humboldt  found  it  very  difficult  to  find. 


8  t      CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Of  the  manuscripts  of  Columbus  which  are  lost,  there  are 
ms  lost  traces  still  to  be  discovered.  One  letter,  which  he 
writings.  dated  off  the  Canaries,  February  15,  1493,  and  which 


flftm  Cnfam  Hrgirem  au 


foanre* 
mcac  fr  uge0  wee  bpernw 
bomines  .  dfpbantc»  in 


ltmmo*  lot 
immifo 
fnota  t?aloe  magna  e-IQa? 

)U  ff!  ftnrna  para  hahirflht 


Dico  igif  cp  frone  ^noie 
»  propcer  region  em  fiatba 
^  mans  magnu  oefcenoea 
;am  infenorem  feu  /iPncaj 
ii9  inoieoefcenoit  a  tropi 
uomonrem  /\f)alra.  a  regi 


eft  Byene  .  x>na  Tub  foini 
•  o  oeqoa  nunccfl  fermo  • 
ariinmeotobabtraaQnia 
jCdoete  fep  tecrion  e  i  m  eri 


npia  in  qjntate  9eorr 
ttirabiliu  xjanecate.  f)a 


iMrtut  ocrauo  fcntfcunc  - 
amen  rerpeticnm  qut  ibi 


f  ^  Ta  !  u  ccm  jrunepJQ  ce/re^"    ~ 
«-e  babitabillaufoT^TDmr 
HinfficucrupraDiccumefl  * 


et  unguea  pFeninc 
'Oinigneamorealterat 
iqm  parencee  cofecco* 
pum  parac 


ANNOTATIONS  BY  COLUMBUS  ON  THE  IMAGO  MUNDL 

[From  Harrisse's  A^o^e*  on  Columbus.] 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  9 

must  have  contained  some  account  of  his  first  voyage,  is  only 
known  to  us  from  an  intimation  of  Marino  Sanuto  that  it  was 
included  in  the  Chronica  Delphinea.  It  is  probably  from  an 
imperfect  copy  of  this  last  in  the  library  at  Brescia,  that  the 
letter  in  question  was  given  in  the  book's  third  part  (A.  D. 
1457-1500),  which  is  now  missing.  We  know  also,  from  a  let 
ter  still  preserved  (December  27,  1504),  that  there  must  be  a 
letter  somewhere,  if  not  destroyed,  sent  by  him  respecting  his 
fourth  voyage,  to  Messer  Gian  Luigi  Fieschi,  as  is  supposed, 
the  same  who  led  the  famous  conspiracy  against  the  house  of 
Doria.  Other  letters,  Columbus  tells  us,  were  sent  at  times  to 
the  Signora  Madonna  Catalina,  who  was  in  some  way  related 
to  Fieschi. 

In  1780,  Francesco  Pesaro,  examining  the  papers  of  the 
Council  of  Ten,  at  Venice,  read  there  a  memoir  of  Columbus, 
setting  forth  his  maritime  project ;  or  at  least  Pesaro  was  so 
understood  by  Marin,  who  gives  the  story  at  a  later  day  in  the 
seventh  volume  of  his  history  of  Venetian  commerce.  As  Har- 
risse  remarks,  this  paper,  if  it  could  be  discovered,  would  prove 
the  most  interesting  of  all  Columbian  documents,  since  it  would 
probably  be  found  to  fall  within  a  period,  from  1473  to  1487, 
when  we  have  little  or  nothing  authentic  respecting  Columbus's 
life.  Indeed,  it  might  happily  elucidate  a  stage  in  the  develop 
ment  of  the  Admiral's  cosmographical  views  of  which  we  know 
nothing. 

We  have  the  letter  which  Columbus  addressed  to  Alexander 
VI.,  in  February,  1502,  as  preserved  in  a  copy  made  by  his  son 
Ferdinand  ;  but  no  historical  student  has  ever  seen  the  Com 
mentary,  which  he  is  said  to  have  written  after  the  manner  of 
Caesar,  recounting  the  haps  and  mishaps  of  the  first  voyage, 
and  which  he  is  thought  to  have  sent  to  the  ruling  Pontiff. 
This  act  of  duty,  if  done  after  his  return  from  his  last  voyage, 
must  have  been  made  to  Julius  the  Second,  not  to  Alexander. 

Irving  and  others  seem  to  have  considered  that  this  Caesarian 
performance  was  in  fact,  the  well-known  journal  of 
the  first  voyage  ;  but  there  is  a  good  deal   of  diffi-  of  MS  first 
culty  in  identifying  that  which  we  only  know  in  an 
abridged  form,  as  made  by  Las  Casas,  with  the  narrative  sent  or 
intended  to  be  sent  to  the  Pope. 

Ferdinand,  or  the  writer  of  the  Historic,  later  to  be  men- 


10  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

tioned,  it  seems  clear,  had  Columbus's  journal  before  him, 
though  he  excuses  himself  from  quoting  much  from  it,  in  order 
to  avoid  wearying  the  reader. 

The  original  "  journal  "  seems  to  have  been  in  1554  still  in 
the  possession  of  Luis  Colon.  It  had  not,  accordingly,  at  that 
date  been  put  among  the  treasures  of  the  Biblioteca  Colombina. 
Thus  it  may  have  fallen,  with  Luis's  other  papers,  to  his  nephew 
and  heir,  Diego  Colon  y  Pravia,  who  in  1578  entrusted  them 
to  Luis  de  Cardona.  Here  we  lose  sight  of  them. 

Las  Casas's  abridgment  in  his  own  handwriting,  however,  has 

come  down  to  us,  and  some  entries  in  it  would  seem  to 
by  Las  indicate  that  Las  Casas  abridged  a  copy,  and  not  the 

original.  It  was,  up  to  1886,  in  the  library  of  the 
Duke  of  Orsuna,  in  Madrid,  and  was  at  that  date  bought  by  the 
Spanish  government.  While  it  was  in  the  possession  of  Orsuna, 
it  was  printed  by  Varnhagen,  in  his  Verdadera  Guanahani 
(1864).  It  was  clearly  used  by  Las  Casas  in  his  own  Historia, 
and  was  also  in  the  hands  of  Ferdinand,  when  he  wrote,  or  out 
lined,  perhaps,  what  now  passes  for  the  life  of  his  father,  and 
Ferdinand's  statements  can  sometimes  correct  or  qualify  the  text 
in  Las  Casas.  There  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  Herrera 
may  have  used  the  original.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  in  some 
parts,  and  particularly  in  describing  the  landfall  and  the  events 
immediately  succeeding,  he  did  not  vary  the  words  of  the  origi 
nal.  This  Las  Casas  abridgment  was  in  the  archives  of  the 
Duke  del  Infantado,  when  Navarrete  discovered  its  importance, 
and  edited  it  as  early  as  1791,  though  it  was  not  given  to  the 
public  till  Navarrete  published  his  Ooleccion  in  1825.  When 
this  journal  is  read,  even  as  we  have  it,  it  is  hard  to  imagine 
that  Columbus  could  have  intended  so  disjointed  a  performance 
to  be  an  imitation  of  the  method  of  Cesar's  Commentaries. 

The  American  public  was  early  given  an  opportunity  to  judge 
of  this,  and  of  its  importance.  It  was  by  the  instigation  of 
George  Ticknor  that  Samuel  Kettell  made  a  translation  of  the 
text  as  given  by  Navarrete,  and  published  it  in  Boston  in  1827, 
as  a  Personal  Narrative  of  the  first  Voyage  of  Columbus  to 
America,  from  a  Manuscript  recently  discovered  in  Spain. 

We  also  know  that  Columbus  wrote  other  concise  accounts  of 
his  discovery.  On  his  return  voyage,  during  a  gale,  on  Feb- 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  11 

ruary  14,  1493,  fearing  his  ship  would  founder,  he  prepared  a 

statement  on  parchment,  which  was  incased  in  wax, 

put  in  a  barrel,  and  thrown  overboard,  to  take  the  tionsrofhis 

,  .  ,  •      *i  first  voyage. 

chance  of  washing  ashore.  A  similar  account,  protect 
ed  in  like  manner,  he  placed  on  his  vessel's  poop,  to  be  washed 
off  in  case  of  disaster.  Neither  of  these  came,  as  far  as  is  known, 
to  the  notice  of  anybody.  They  very  likely  simply  duplicated  the 
letters  which  he  wrote  on  the  voyage,  intended  to  be  dispatched 
to  their  destination  on  reaching  port.  The  dates  and  places  of 
these  letters  are  not  reconcilable  with  his  journal.  He  was  ap 
parently  approaching  the  Azores,  when,  on  February  15,  he 
dated  a  letter  "off  the  Canaries,"  directed  to  Luis  de  Sant- 
angel.  So  false  a  record  as  "  the  Canaries  "  has  never  been 
satisfactorily  explained.  It  may  be  imagined,  perhaps,  that  the 
letter  had  been  written  when  Columbus  supposed  he  would 
make  those  islands  instead  of  the  Azores,  and  that  the  place  of 
writing  was  not  changed.  It  is  quite  enough,  however,  to  rest 
satisfied  with  the  fact  that  Columbus  was  always  careless,  and 
easily  erred  in  such  things,  as  Navarre te  has  shown.  The  post 
script  which  is  added  is  dated  March  14,  which  seems  hardly 
probable,  or  even  possible,  so  that  March  4  has  been  suggested. 
He  professes  to  write  it  on  the  day  of  his  entering  the  Tagus, 
and  this  was  March  4.  It  is  possible  that  he  altered  the  date 
when  he  reached  Palos,  as  is  Major's  opinion.  Columbus  calls 
this  a  second  letter.  Perhaps  a  former  letter  was  the  one  which, 
as  already  stated,  we  have  lost  in  the  missing  part  of  the  Chron- 
ica  Delphinea. 

The  original  of  this  letter  to  Santangel,  the  treasurer  of  Ara- 
gon,  and  intended  for  the  eyes  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa-  Letter  fco 
bella,  was  in  Spanish,  and  is  known  in  what  is  thought  Santan&eL 
to  be  a  contemporary  copy,  found  by  Navarrete  at  Simancas  ; 
and  it  is  printed  by  him  in  his  Coleccion,  and  is  given  by  Ket- 
tell  in  English,  to  make  no  other  mention  of  places  where  it  is 
accessible.     Harrisse  denies  that  this  Simancas  manuscript  rep 
resents   the    original,    as  Navarrete  had    contended.     A   letter 
dated  off  the  island  of  Santa  Maria,  the   southernmost  of  the 
Azores,  three  days  after  the  letter  to  Santangel,  February  18, 
essentially  the  same,  and  addressed  to  Gabriel  Sanchez,  Letter  fco 
was  found  in  what  seemed  to  be  an  early  copy,  among  Sanchez- 
the  papers  of   the  Colegio  Mayor  de  Cuenca.     This  text  was 


12  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

printed  by  Varnhagen  at  Valencia,  in  1858,  as  Primera  Epistola 
del  Almirante  Don  Cristobal  Colon,  and  it  is  claimed  by  him 
that  it  probably  much  more  nearly  represents  the  original  of 
Columbus's  own  drafting. 

There  was  placed  in  1852  in  the  Biblioteca  Ambrosiana  at 
printed  Milan,  from  the  library  of  Baron  Pietro  Custodi,  a 
editions.  printed  edition  of  this  Spanish  letter,  issued  in  1493, 
perhaps  somewhere  in  Spain  or  Portugal,  for  Barcelona  and 
Lisbon  have  been  named.  Harrisse  conjectures  that  Sanchez 
gave  his  copy  to  some  printer  in  Barcelona.  Others  have  con 
tended  that  it  was  not  printed  in  Spain  at  all.  No  other  copy 
of  this  edition  has  ever  been  discovered.  It  was  edited  by 
Cesare  Correnti  at  Milan  in  1863,  in  a  volume  called  Lettere 
autografe  di  Cristoforo  Colombo,  nuovamente  stampate,  and 
was  again  issued  in  facsimile  in  1866  at  Milan,  under  the  care 
of  Girolamo  d'Adda,  as  Lettera  in  lingua  Spagnuola  diretta 
da  Cristoforo  Colombo  a  Luis  de  Sant- Angel.  Major  and 
Becher,  among  others,  have  given  versions  of  it  to  the  English 
reader,  and  Harrisse  gives  it  side  by  side  with  a  French  version 
in  his  Christopke  Colomb  (i.  420),  and  with  an  English  one 
in  his  Notes  on  Columbus. 

This  text  in  Spanish  print  had  been  thought  the  only  avenue 
of  approach  to  the  actual  manuscript  draft  of  Columbus,  till 
very  recently  two  other  editions,  slightly  varying,  are  said  to 
have  been  discovered,  one  or  both  of  which  are  held  by  some, 
but  on  no  satisfactory  showing,  to  have  preceded  in  issue,  prob 
ably  by  a  short  interval,  the  Ambrosian  copy. 

One  of  these  newly  alleged  editions  is  on  four  leaves  in 
quarto,  and  represents  the  letter  as  dated  on  February  15  and 
March  14,  and  its  cut  of  type  has  been  held  to  be  evidence  of 
having  been  printed  at  Burgos,  or  possibly  at  Salamanca.  That 
this  and  the  Ambrosian  letter  were  printed  one  from  the  other, 
or  independently  from  some  unknown  anterior  edition,  has  been 
held  to  be  clear  from  the  fact  that  they  correspond  throughout 
in  the  division  of  lines  and  pages.  It  is  not  easily  determined 
which  was  the  earlier  of  the  two,  since  there  are  errors  in  each 
corrected  in  the  other.  This  unique  four-leaf  quarto  was  a  few 
months  since  offered  for  sale  in  London,  by  Ellis  and  Elvey, 
who  have  published  (1889)  an  English  translation  of  it,  with 
annotations  by  Julia  E.  S.  Rae.  It  is  now  understood  to  be  in 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  13 

the  possession  of  a  New  York  collector.  It  is  but  fair  to  say 
that  suspicions  of  its  genuineness  have  been  entertained  ;  indeed, 
there  can  be  scarce  a  doubt  that  it  is  a  modern  fabrication. 

The  other  of  these  newly  discovered  editions  is  in  folio  of  two 
leaves,  and  was  the  last  discovered,  and  was  very  recently  held 
by  Maisonneuve  of  Paris  at  65,000  francs,  and  has  since  been 
offered  by  Quaritch  in  London  for  £1,600.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  discovered  in  Spain,  and  to  have  been  printed  at  Barce 
lona  ;  and  this  last  fact  is  thought  to  be  apparent  from  the  Cat 
alan  form  of  some  of  the  Spanish,  which  has  disappeared  in 
the  Ambrosian  text.  It  also  gives  the  dates  February  15  and 
March  14.  A  facsimile  edition  has  been  issued  under  the  title 
La  Lettre  de  Christophe  Colomb,  annonqant  la  DScouverte  du 
Nouveau  Monde. 

Caleb  Cushing,  in  the  North  American  Review  in  October, 
1825,  refers  to  newspaper  stories  then  current  of  a  recent  sale 
of  a  copy  of  the  Spanish  text  in  London,  for  <£33  12s.  to  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham.  It  cannot  now  be  traced. 

Harrisse   finds   in  Ferdinand's   catalogue   of  the    Biblioteca 
Colombina  what  was  probably  a  Catalan  text  of  this  Catalan 
Spanish  letter ;  but  it  has  disappeared  from  the  col-  text> 
lection. 

Bergenroth  found  at  Siniancas,  some  years  ago,  the  text  of 
another  letter  by  Columbus,  with  the  identical  dates 
already  given,  and  addressed  to  a  friend ;  but  it  con-  found  by 
veyed  nothing  not  known  in  the  printed  Spanish  texts. 
He,  however,  gave  a  full  abstract  of  it  in  the  Calendar  of  State 
Papers  relating  to  England  and  Spain. 

Columbus  is  known,  after  his  return  from  the  second  voyage, 
to  have  been  the  guest  of  Andres  Bernaldez,  the  Cura  Columbu8 
de  los  Palacios,  and  he  is  also  known  to  have  placed  foVBeruai-ers 
papers  in  this  friend's  hands ;  and  so  it  has  been  held  dez> 
probable  by  Munoz  that  another  Spanish  text  of  Columbus's 
first  account  is  embodied  in  Bernaldez's  Historia  de  los  Reyes 
Catolicos.  The  manuscript  of  this  work,  which  gives  thirteen 
chapters  to  Columbus,  long  remained  imprinted  in  the  royal 
library  at  Madrid,  and  Irving,  Prescott,  and  Humboldt  all  used 
it  in  that  form.  It  was  finally  printed  at  Granada  in  1856,  as 
edited  by  Miguel  Lafuente  y  Alcantara,  and  was  reprinted  at 
Seville  in  1870.  Harrisse,  in  his  Notes  on  Columbus,  gives  an 
English  version  of  this  section  on  the  Columbus  voyage. 


14  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

These,  then,  are  all  the  varieties  of  the  Spanish  text  of  Co- 
lumbus's  first  announcement   of    his  discovery  which 

Varieties  of  .  ^TT1  . 

the  Spanish    are   at   present  known.      When   the  Ambrosian  text 

toxtu 

was  thought  to  be  the  only  printed  form  of  it,  Varn- 
hagen,  in  his  Carta  de  Cristobal  Colon  enviada  de  Lisboa  a 
Barcelona  en  Marzo  de  1493  (Vienna,  1869 ;  and  Paris,  1870), 
collated  the  different  texts  to  try  to  reconstruct  a  possible 
original  text,  as  Columbus  wrote  it.  In  the  opinion  of  Major 
no  one  of  these  texts  can  be  considered  an  accurate  transcript 
of  the  original. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  among  these  critics  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  origin  of  the  Latin  text  which  scholars  generally  cite 
Latin  text.  as  ^  first  letter  Q£  Columbus.  Major  thinks  this 

Latin  text  was  not  taken  from  the  Spanish,  though  similar  to  it ; 
while  Varnhagen  thinks  that  the  particular  Spanish  text  found 
in  the  Colegio  Mayor  de  Cuenca  was  the  original  of  the  Latin 
version. 

There  is  nothing  more   striking  in  the  history  of  the  years 

immediately  following  the  discovery  of  America  than 

fame  of  the    the  transient  character  of  the  fame  which  Columbus 

acquired  by  it.     It  was  another  and  later  generation 

that  fixed  his  name  in  the  world's  regard. 

Harrisse  points  out  how  some  of  the  standard  chroniclers  of 
the  world's  history,  like  Ferrebouc,  Regnault,  Galliot  du  Pre, 
and  Fabian,  failed  during  the  early  half  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury  to  make  any  note  of  the  acts  of  Columbus ;  and  he  could 
find  no  earlier  mention  among  the  German  chroniclers  than  that 
of  Heinrich  Steinhowel,  some  time  after  1531.  There  was  even 
great  reticence  among  the  chroniclers  of  the  Low  Countries  ;  and 
in  England  we  need  to  look  into  the  dispatches  sent  thence  by 
the  Spanish  ambassadors  to  find  the  merest  mention 

English 

mentions  of  Columbus  so  early  as  1498.  Perhaps  the  refer 
ence  to  him  made  eleven  years  later  (1509),  in  an 
English  version  of  Brandt's  Shyppe  of  Fools,  and  another 
still  ten  years  later  in  a  little  native  comedy  called  The  New 
Interlude,  may  have  been  not  wholly  unintelligible.  It  was  not 
till  about  1550  that,  so  far  as  England  is  concerned,  Columbus 
really  became  a  historical  character,  in  Edward  Hall's  Chron 
icle. 

Speaking   of   the  fewness  of   the   autographs  of  Columbus 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  15 

which  are  preserved,  Harrisse  adds :  "  The  fact  is  that  Co 
lumbus  was  very  far  from  being  in  his  lifetime  the  important 
personage  he  now  is  ;  and  his  writings,  which  then  commanded 
neither  respect  nor  attention,  were  probably  thrown  into  the 
waste-basket  as  soon  as  received." 

Nevertheless,  substantial  proof  seems  to  exist  in  the  several 
editions  of  the  Latin  version  of  this  first  letter,  which 

.  ,.  Editions  of 

were  issued  in  the  months  immediately  following  the  the  Latin 
return  of  Columbus  from  his  first  voyage,  as  well  as 
in  the  popular  versification  of  its  text  by  Dati  in  two  editions, 
both  in  October,  1493,  besides  another  at  Florence  in  1495, 
to  show  that  for  a  brief  interval,  at  least,  the  news  was  more  or 
less  engrossing  to  the  public  mind  in  certain  confined  areas  of 
Europe.  Before  the  discovery  of  the  printed  editions  of  the 
Spanish  text,  there  existed  an  impression  that  either  the  in 
terest  in  Spain  was  less  than  in  Italy,  or  some  effort  was  made 
by  the  Spanish  government  to  prevent  a  wide  dissemination  of 
the  details  of  the  news. 

The  two  Genoese  ambassadors  who  left  Barcelona  some  time 
after  the  return  of  Columbus,  perhaps  in  August,  1493,  may 
possibly  have  taken  to  Italy  with  them  some  Spanish  edition  of 
the  letter.  The  news,  however,  had  in  some  form  reached  Kome 
in  season  to  be  the  subject  of  a  papal  bull  on  May  3d.  We  know 
that  Aliander  or  Leander  de  Cosco,  who  made  the  Latin  ver 
sion,  very  likely  from  the  Sanchez  copy,  finished  it  probably  at 
Barcelona,  on  the  29th  of  April,  not  on  the  25th  as  is  sometimes 
said.  Cosco  sent  it  at  once  to  Rome  to  be  printed,  and  his  manu 
script  possibly  conveyed  the  first  tidings,  to  Italy,  —  such  is 
Harrisse's  theory,  —  where  it  reached  first  the  hands  of  the 
Bishop  of  Monte  Peloso,  who  added  to  it  a  Latin  epigram.  It 
was  he  who  is  supposed  to  have  committed  it  to  the  printer  in 
Rome,  and  in  that  city,  during  the  rest  of  1493,  four  editions 
at  least  of  Cosco's  Latin  appeared.  Two  of  these  editions  are 
supposed  to  be  printed  by  Plannck,  a  famous  Roman  printer ; 
one  is  known  to  have  come  from  the  press  of  Franck  Silber. 
All  but  one  were  little  quartos,  of  the  familiar  old  style,  of  three 
or  four  black-letter  leaves  ;  while  the  exception  was  a  small  oc 
tavo  with  woodcuts.  It  is  Harrisse's  opinion  that  this  pictorial 
edition  was  really  printed  at  Basle.  In  Paris,  during  the  same 
time  or  shortly  after,  there  were  three  editions  of  a  similar  ap- 


16  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

pearance,  all  from  one  press.    The  latest  of  all,  brought  to  light 
but  recently,  seems  to  have  been  printed  by  a  distinguished 

:  rof  ftianoftra  mulefl  &bet:  de 


rcndsaocrauoanteamcnfe  aufpidjei  prmutctifTimf  f  ernam 
di  WfpaniarumKcgie  mrffusfuCT^sad  9?sgnific«m  dnrn  % 
pbaelem  Sanrierriufdon  fmmiffiroi  Tic  gia  SCcfaurariu  miffa* 
qtiamnobtlte  aclttrcrarue  rir  Biiander  dc£ofco  ab  "Difpano 
ideomarc  in  lattnom  amntrtir  :  ratio  feafe  07 
^onrfftcanie  Slejcandn  gem  Snno  pzimo* 


e  gr^tum  cibi  fbze  fcio:  baa  confHtuf  cjrarare:  qa;  re 
iufcuiufcprd  in  bocnoftro  f  tmcre  geftj  inucnrjcp  ad/ 
mo  vant:  Zriccfinforcrtio  die  poftfp  ©adibus  difceffi  m  mare 
Jndicu  peruenhrbi  plurimae  infulaa  Innomerie  babitataa  bar 
mf  rnbUB  rtppcrtsquaram  omnium  pjo  foclictffnno  "Regc  noflro 
pifcom'o  celcbzaro  T  rcn'lTie  cjcfenfeeontradiccntf  ncminc  pof/ 
fcfTlionemaccqji.'primfcp  carom  diui  Saluarozienomcn  fmpo^ 
fui:euiU9  fretu9  aunlto  ram  ad  banc:$  ad  ccrrrae  altaeperuc/ 
niinu0»$am  to  3ndi  <5uanabanin  rocanr«3!tarometii  rnam 
q  uancp  nouo  nomine  nuncupaui*<Qirippr  alia  infulam  6anrc| 
03ari£  (£6nceprionid*aliam  j-'cmandmam  •  aliam  t>pfabellam» 
aliam  ^obanam-t  fie  dc  rehquie  appcllari  iufTi-Onampzimum 
in  earn  infulam  qua  dudum  ^obana  rocari  dijci  appulimue  :iu 
Irtra  eiua  lirtueoccidcnrem  rerfue  aliquanrulumpzoccffi:tamcp 
cam  magna  nullo  rcpcrro  fine  inumitr  r  non  infulam:  fed  conr  f 
nen  f  fm  Cbata!  piouinciafn  cffe  credfdcrinnnui  la  tn  vidcns  op/ 
pida  munfclpiaue  in  man  timie  lira  conftmb?  p:f  rcr  aliquoB  v'u 
COB  i  p:edia  mfhcarcum  quo?  incoiie  loqui  nequibam-quarcfl 
uml  acnoeridcbanr  furnpicbanrfugam^piogredicbarrltrft: 
«cifh'man0aliquamcrrbemrillafucmucnturum-S)cmcprid?8 
q>  longe  admodum  p^ogrcfTis  nibil  noui  emcrgebar:!  bmoi  via 
nos  ad  Sq>rcnrrionem  dcfcrebar:q>  ipfcfugercc)roprab3:tcms 
crenim  rcgnabar  b;uma:  ad  fluftrmncg  erat  in  voro  coroiderca 

FIRST  PAGE,  COLUMBUS'S  FIRST  LETTER,  LATIN  EDITION,  1493. 
[From  the  Barlow  copy,  now  in  the  Boston  Public  Library.] 

Flemish  printer,   Thierry  Martens,  probably  at  Antwerp.      It 


SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION.  17 

is  not  improbable  that  other  editions  printed  in  all  these  or 
other  cities  may  yet  be  found.  It  is  noteworthy  that  nothing 
was  issued  in  Germany,  as  far  as  we  know,  before  a  German 
version  of  the  letter  appeared  at  Strassburg  in  1497. 

The  text  in  all  these  Latin  editions  is  intended  to  be  the 
same.  But  a  very  few  copies  of  any  edition,  and  only  a  single 
copy  of  two  or  three  of  them,  are  known.  The  Lenox,  the  Car 
ter-Brown,  and  the  Ives  libraries  in  this  country  are  the  chief 
ones  possessing  any  of  them,  and  the  collections  of  the  late 
Henry  C.  Murphy  and  Samuel  L.  M.  Barlow  also  possessed  a 
copy  or  two,  the  edition  owned  by  Barlow  passing  in  February, 
1890,  to  the  Boston  Public  Library.  This  scarcity  and  the 
rivalry  of  collectors  would  probably,  in  case  any  one  of  them 
should  be  brought  upon  the  market,  raise  the  price  to  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  or  more.  The  student  is  not  so  restricted  as 
this  might  imply,  for  in  several  cases  there  have  been  modern 
facsimiles  and  reprints,  and  there  is  an  early  reprint  by  Ve- 
radus,  annexed  to  his  poem  (1494)  on  the  capture  of  Granada. 
The  text  usually  quoted  by  the  older  writers,  however,  is  that 
embodied  in  the  Bellum  Christianorum  Principum  of  Ro- 
bertus  Monarchus  (Basle,  1533). 

In  these  original  small  quartos  and  octavos,  there  is  just 
enough  uncertainty  and  obscurity  as  to  dates  and  printers,  to 
lure  bibliographers  and  critics  of  typography  into  research  and 
controversy ;  and  hardly  any  two  of  them  agree  in  assigning 
the  same  order  of  publication  to  these  several  issues.  Order  of 
The  present  writer  has  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Publication- 
Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America  grouped  the  varied 
views,  so  far  as  they  had  in  1885  been  made  known.  The  bib 
liography  to  which  Harrisse  refers  as  being  at  the  end  of  his 
work  on  Columbus  was  crowded  out  of  its  place  and  has  not  ap 
peared  ;  but  he  enters  into  a  long  examination  of  the  question 
of  priority  in  the  second  chapter  of  his  last  volume.  The  ear 
liest  English  translation  of  this  Latin  text  appeared  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review  in  1816,  and  other  issues  have  been  va 
riously  made  since  that  date. 

We  get  some  details  of  this  first  voyage  in  Oviedo,  which  we 
do  not  find  in  the  journal,  and  Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon  and  Her- 
nan  Perez  Matheos,  who  were  companions  of  Columbus,  are 


18  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

said  to  be  the  source  of  this  additional  matter.  The  testimony 
Additional  *n  *^e  lawsuit  °f  1515,  particularly  that  of  Garcia 
Teeth? r the  Hernandez,  wno  was  in  the  "  Pinta,"  and  of  a  sailor 
first  voyage.-  named  Francisco  Garcia  Vallejo,  adds  other  details. 

There  is  no  existing  account  by  Columbus  himself  of  his  ex- 
second  voy-  periences  during  his  second  voyage,  and  of  that  cruise 
along  the  Cuban  coast  in  which  he  supposed  himself 
to  have  come  in  sight  of  the  Golden  Chersonesus.  The  Historic 
tells  us  that  during  this  cruise  he  kept  a  journal,  Libro  del 
Segundo  Viage,  till  he  was  prostrated  by  sickness,  and  this 
itinerary  is  cited  both  in  the  Historie  and  by  Las  Casas.  We 
also  get  at  second-hand  from  Columbus,  what  was  derived  from 
him  in  conversation  after  his  return  to  Spain,  in  the  account  of 
these  explorations  which  Bernaldez  has  embodied  in  his  Reyes 
Catolicos.  Irving  says  that  he  found  these  descriptions  of  Ber 
naldez  by  far  the  most  useful  of  the  sources  for  this  period,  as 
giving  him  the  details  for  a  picturesque  narrative.  On  disem 
barking  at  Cadiz  in  June,  1495,  Columbus  sent  to  his  sover 
eigns  two  dispatches,  neither  of  which  is  now  known. 

It  was  in  the  collection  of  the  Duke  of  Veragua  that  Navar- 
coiumbus's  rete  discovered  fifteen  autograph  letters  of  Columbus, 
four  of  them  addressed  to  his  friend,  the  Father  Gas- 
par  Gorricio,  and  the  rest  to  his  son  Diego.  Navarrete  speaks 
of  them  when  found  as  in  a  very  deplorable  and  in  parts  al 
most  unreadable  condition,  and  severely  taxing,  for  deciphering 
them,  the  practiced  skill  of  Tomas  Gonzalez,  which  had  been 
acquired  in  the  care  which  he  had  bestowed  on  the  archives 
of  Simancas.  It  is  known  that  two  letters  addressed  to  Gor 
ricio  in  1498,  and  four  in  1501,  beside  a  single  letter  addressed 
in  the  last  year  to  Diego  Colon,  which  were  in  the  iron  chest  at 
Las  Cuevas,  are  not  now  in  the  archives  of  the  Duke  of  Vera 
gua  ;  and  it  is  further  known  that  during  the  great  lawsuit  of 
Columbus's  heirs,  Cristoval  de  Cardona  tampered  with  that 
chest,  and  was  brought  to  account  for  the  act  in  1580.  What 
ever  he  removed  may  possibly  some  day  be  found,  as  Harrisse 
thinks,  among  the  notarial  records  of  Valencia. 

Two  letters  of  Columbus  respecting  his  third  voyage  are  only 
Third  voy-  known  in  early  copies ;  one  in  Las  Casas's  hand  be 
longed  to  the  Duke  of  Orsuna,  and  the  other  ad 
dressed  to  the  nurse  of  Prince  Juan  is  in  the  Custodia  collection 
at  Genoa.  Both  are  printed  by  Navarrete. 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  19 

Columbus,  in  a  letter  dated  December  27, 1504,  mentions  a  re 
lation  of  his  fourth  voyage  with  a  supplement,  which  he  Fourth  voy. 
had  sent  from  Seville  to  Oderigo  ;  but  it  is  not  known.  age> 
We  are  without  trace  also  of  other  letters,  which  he  wrote  at 
Dominica  and  at  other  points  during  this  voyage.  We  do 
know,  however,  a  letter  addressed  by  Columbus  to  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  giving  some  account  of  his  voyage  to  July  7,  1503. 
The  lost  Spanish  original  is  represented  in  an  early  copy,  which 
is  printed  by  Navarrete.  Though  no  contemporary  Spanish 
edition  is  known,  an  Italian  version  was  issued  at  Venice  in 
1505,  as  Copia  de  la  Lettera  per  Colombo  mandata.  This  was 
reprinted  with  comments  by  Morelli,  at  Bassano,  in  1810,  and 
the  title  which  this  librarian  gave  it  of  Lettera  Rarissima  has 
clung  to  it,  in  most  of  the  citations  which  refer  to  it. 

Peter  Martyr,  writing  in  January,  1494,  mentions  just  having 
received  a  letter  from  Columbus,  but  it  is  not  known  to  exist. 

Las  Casas  is  said  to  have  once  possessed  a  treatise  by  Co 
lumbus  on  the  information  obtained  from  Portuguese 

Las  Casas 

and  Spanish  pilots,  concerning  western  lands  ;  and  he  uses  coium- 
also  refers  to  Libros  de  Memorias  del  Almirante. 
He  is  also  known  by  his  own  statements  to  have  had  numerous 
autograph  letters  of  Columbus.  What  has  become  of  them  k 
not  known.  If  they  were  left  in  the  monastery  of  San  Gregorio 
at  Valladolid,  where  Las  Casas  used  them,  they  have  disap 
peared  with  papers  of  the  convent,  since  they  were  not  among 
the  archives  of  the  suppressed  convents,  as  Harrisse  tells  us, 
which  were  entrusted  in  1850  to  the  Academy  of  History  at 
Madrid. 

In  his  letter  to  Dona  Juana,  Columbus  says  that  he  has  de 
posited  a  work  in  the  Convent  de  la  Mejorada,  in  Work0nthe 
which  he  has  predicted  the  discovery  of  the  Arctic  ArcticP°le- 
pole.  It  has  not  been  found. 

Harrisse  also  tells  us  of  the  unsuccessful  search  which  he  has 
made  for  an  alleged  letter  of  Columbus,  said  in  Gun-  Missing 
ther  and  Schultz's  handbook  of  autographs  (Leipzig,   letters- 
1856)  to  have  been   bought  in  England  by  the  Duke  of  Buck 
ingham  ;  and  it  was  learned  from  Tross,  the  Paris  bookseller, 
that  about  1850  some  autograph  letters  of  Columbus,  seen  by 
him,  were  sent  to  England  for  sale. 


20  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

After  his  return  from  his  first  voyage,  Columbus  prepared  a 
maP  and  an  accompanying  table  of  longitudes  and  lati- 
tudes  for  the  new  discoveries.  They  are  known  to 
have  been  the  subject  of  correspondence  between  him  and  the 
queen. 

There  are  various  other  references  to  maps  which  Columbus 
had  constructed,  to  embody  his  views  or  show  his  discoveries. 
Not  one,  certainly  to  be  attributed  to  him,  is  known,  though 
Ojeda,  Nino,  and  others  are  recorded  as  having  used,  in  their 
explorations,  maps  made  by  Columbus.  Peter  Martyr's  lan 
guage  does  not  indicate  that  Columbus  ever  completed  any 
chart,  though  he  had,  with  the  help  of  his  brother  Bartholomew, 
begun  one.  The  map  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1513  is  said  by  San- 
tarem  to  have  been  drawn  by  Columbus,  or  to  have  been  based 
on  his  memoranda,  but  the  explanation  on  the  map  seems  rather 
to  imply  that  information  derived  from  an  admiral  in  the  ser 
vice  of  Portugal  was  used  in  correcting  it,  and  since  Harrisse 
has  brought  to  light  what  is  usually  called  the  Cantino  map, 
there  is  strong  ground  for  supposing  that  the  two  had  one  pro 
totype. 

Let  us  pass  from  records  by  Columbus  to  those  about  him. 

We  owe  to  an  ancient  custom  of  Italy  that  so  much 

tariai  rec-      has  been  preserved,  to  throw  in  the  aggregate  no  small 

amount  of  light  on  the  domestic  life  of  the  family  in 

which   Columbus    was  the  oldest  born.     During   the  fourteen 

years  in  which  his  father  lived  at  Savona,  every  little  business 

act  and  legal  transaction  was  attested  before  notaries,  whose 

records  have  been  preserved  filed  in  Jilzas  in  the  archives  of 

the  town. 

These  Jilzas  were  simply  a  file  of  documents  tied  together  by 
a  string  passed  through  each,  and  a  filza  generally  embraced  a 
year's  accumulation.  The  photographic  facsimile  which  Har 
risse  gives  in  his  Columbus  and  the  Sank  of  Saint  George,  of 
the  letter  of  Columbus  preserved  by  the  bank,  shows  how  the 
sheet  was  folded  once  lengthwise,  and  then  the  hole  was  made 
midway  in  each  fold. 

We  learn  in  this  way  that,  as  early  as  1470  and  later,  Colum 
bus  stood  security  for  his  father.  Wre  find  him  in  1472  the 
witness  of  another's  will.  As  under  the  Justinian  procedure 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  21 

the  notary's  declaration  sufficed,  such  documents  in  Italy  are 
not  rendered  additionally  interesting  by  the  autograph  of  the 
witness,  as  they  would  be  in  England.  This  notarial  resource  is 
no  new  discovery.  As  early  as  1602,  thirteen  documents  drawn 
from  similar  depositaries  were  printed  at  Genoa,  in  some  anno 
tations  by  Giulio  Salinerio  upon  Cornelius  Tacitus.  Other 
similar  papers  were  discovered  by  the  archivists  of  Savona, 
Gian  Tommaso  and  Giambattista  Belloro,  in  1810  (reprinted, 
1821)  and  1839  respectively,  and  proving  the  general  correct 
ness  of  the  earlier  accounts  of  Columbus's  younger  days  given 
in  Gallo,  Senarega,  and  Giustiniani.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  original  entries  of  some  of  these  notarial  acts  are  not  now 
to  be  found,  but  patient  search  may  yet  discover  them,  and 
even  do  something  more  to  elucidate  the  life  of  the  Columbus 
family  in  Savona. 

There   has    been   brought   into    prominence    and   published 
lately  a  memoir  of  the  illustrious  natives  of  Savona, 
written  by  a  lawyer,  Giovanni  Vincenzo  Yerzellino, 
who  died  in  that  town  in  1638.     This  document  was  printed  at 
Savona  in  1885,  under  the  editorial  care  of  Andrea  Astengo ; 
but  Harrisse  has  given  greater  currency  to  its  elucidations  for 
our  purpose   in   his   Ohristophe    Colomb    et    Savone   (Genoa, 
1877). 

Harrisse  is  not  unwisely  confident  that  the  nineteen  docu 
ments  —  if  no  more  have  been  added  —  throwing  light  Genoa  nota_ 
on  minor  points  of  the  obscure  parts  of  the  life  of  Co-  rial  records- 
lumbus  and  his  kindred,  which  during  recent  years  have  been 
discovered  in  the  notarial  files  of  Genoa  by  the  Marquis  Mar- 
cello  Staglieno,  may  be  only  the  precursors  of  others  yet  to  be 
unearthed,  and  that  the  pages  of  the  Giornale  Ligustico  may 
continue  to  record  such  discoveries  as  it  has  in  the  past. 

The   records  of  the  Bank  of   Saint  George  in  Genoa  have 
yielded  something,  but  not  much.    In  the  state  archives 
of  Genoa,  preserved  since  1817  in  the  Palazzetto,  we  the  Bank  of 
might  hope  to  find  some  report  of  the  great  discovery, 
of  which  the  Genoese  ambassadors,  Francesco  Marchesio  and 
Gian  Antonio  Grimaldi,  were  informed,  just  as  they  were  taking 
leave  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  for  returning  to  Italy;  but 
nothing  of  that  kind  has  yet  been  brought  to  light  there  ;  nor  was 
it  ever  there,  unless  the  account  which  Senarega  gives  in  the 


22  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

narrative  printed  in  Muratori  was  borrowed  thence.  We  may 
hope,  but  probably  in  vain,  to  have  these  public  archives  deter 
mine  if  Columbus  really  offered  to  serve  his  native  country  in 
a  voyage  of  discovery.  The  inquirer  is  more  fortunate  if  he 
explores  what  there  is  left  of  the  archives  of  the  old  abbey  of 
St.  Stephen,  which,  since  the  suppression  of  the  convents  in 
1797,  have  been  a  part  of  the  public  papers,  for  he  can  find  in 
them  some  help  in  solving  some  pertinent  questions. 

Harrisse  tells  us  in  1887  that  he  had  been  waiting  two  years 
Vatican  ar-  f°r  permission  to  search  the  archives  of  the  Vatican. 

What  may  yet  be  revealed  in  that  repository,  the 
world  waits  anxiously  to  learn.  It  may  be  that  some  one  shall 
yet  discover  there  the  communication  in  which  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella  announced  to  the  Pope  the  consummation  of  the  hopes 
of  Columbus.  It  may  be  that  the  diplomatic  correspondence  cov 
ering  the  claims  of  Spain  by  virtue  of  the  discovery  of  Colum 
bus,  and  leading  to  the  bull  of  demarcation  of  May,  1493,  may 
yet  be  found,  accompanied  by  maps,  of  the  highest  interest  in 
interpreting  the  relations  of  the  new  geography.  There  is  no 
assurance  that  the  end  of  manuscript  disclosures  has  yet  come. 

Some  new  bit  of  documentary  proof  has  been  found 
manu-  at  times  in  places  quite  unexpected.  The  number  of 

Italian  observers  in  those  days  of  maritime  excitement 
living  in  the  seaports  and  trading  places  of  Spain  and  Portugal, 
kept  their  home  friends  alert  in  expectation  by  reason  of  such 

appetizing  news.  Such  are  the  letters  sent  to  Italy 
about  Co-  by  Hanibal  Januarius,  and  by  Luca,  the  Florentine 

lumbus.  _,, 

engineer,  concerning  the  first  voyage.  There  are 
similar  transient  summaries  of  the  second  voyage.  Some  have 
been  found  in  the  papers  of  Macchiavelli,  and  others  had  been 
arranged  by  Zorzi  for  a  new  edition  of  his  documentary  collec 
tion.  These  have  all  been  recovered  of  recent  years,  and  Har 
risse  himself,  Gargiolli,  Guerrini,  and  others,  have  been  instru 
mental  in  their  publication. 

It  was  thirty-seven  years  after  the  death  of  Columbus  before, 
Spanish  under  an  order  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  February  19, 
archives.  1543,  the  archives  of  Spain  were  placed  in  some  sort 
of  order  and  security  at  Simancas.  The  great  masses  of 
papers  filed  by  the  crown  secretaries  and  the  Councils  of  the 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  23 

Indies  and  of  Seville,  were  gradually  gathered  there,  but  not 
until  many  had  been  lost.  Others  apparently  disappeared  at  a 
later  day,  for  we  are  now  aware  that  many  to  which  Herrera 
refers  cannot  be  found.  New  efforts  to  secure  the  preservation 
and  systematize  the  accumulation  of  manuscripts  were  made  by 
order  of  Philip  the  Second  in  1567,  but  it  would  seem  with 
out  all  the  success  that  might  have  been  desired.  Towards  the 
end  of  the  last  century,  it  was  the  wish  of  Charles  the  Third 
that  all  the  public  papers  relating  to  the  New  World  simancas 
should  be  selected  from  Simancas  and  all  other  places  and  Sevme- 
of  deposit  and  carried  to  Seville.  The  act  was  accomplished  in 
1788,  when  they  were  placed  in  a  new  building  which  had  been 
provided  for  them.  Thus  it  is  that  to-day  the  student  of  Co 
lumbus  must  rather  search  Seville  than  Simancas  for  new  doc 
uments,  though  a  few  papers  of  some  interest  in  connection 
with  the  contests  of  his  heirs  with  the  crown  of  Castile  may 
still  exist  at  Simancas.  Thirty  years  ago,  if  not  now,  as  Bergen- 
roth  tells  us,  there  was  little  comfort  for  the  student  of  history 
in  working  at  Simancas.  The  papers  are  preserved 
in  an  old  castle,  formerly  belonging  to  the  admirals 
of  Castile,  which  had  been  confiscated  and  devoted  to  the  uses 
of  such  a  repository.  The  one  large  room  which  was  assigned 
for  the  accommodation  of  readers  had  a  northern  aspect,  and 
as  no  fires  were  allowed,  the  note-taker  found  not  infrequently 
in  winter  the  ink  partially  congealed  in  his  pen.  There  was  no 
imaginable  warmth  even  in  the  landscape  as  seen  from  the 
windows,  since,  amid  a  treeless  waste,  the  whistle  of  cold  blasts 
in  winter  and  a  blinding  African  heat  in  summer  characterize 
the  climate  of  this  part  of  Old  Castile. 

Of  the  early  career  of  Columbus,  it  is  very  certain  that 
something  may  be  gained  at  Simancas,  for  when  Bergenroth, 
sent  by  the  English  government,  made  search  there  to  illustrate 
the  relations  of  Spain  with  England,  and  published  his  results, 
with  the  assistance  of  Gayangos,  in  1862-1879,  as  a  Calendar 
of  Letters,  Despatches,  and  State  Papers  relating  to  Negotia 
tions  between  England  and  Sf)ain,  one  of  the  earliest  entries  of 
his  first  printed  volume,  under  1485,  was  a  complaint  of  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella  against  a  Columbus  —  some  have  supposed 
it  our  Christopher  —  for  his  participancy  in  the  piratical  service 
of  the  French. 


24 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION.  25 

Harrisse  complains  that  we  have  as  yet  but  scant  knowledge 
of  what  the  archives  of  the  Indies  at  Seville  may  con 
tain,  but  they  probably  throw  light  rather  upon  the 
successors  of  Columbus  than  upon  the  career  of  the  Admiral 
himself. 

The  notarial  archives  of   Seville  are  of  recent  construction, 
the  gathering  of  scattered  material  having  been  first 
ordered  so  late  as   1869.      The   partial  examination  notarial 
which  has  since  been  made  of  them  has  revealed  some 
slight  evidences  of  the  life  of  some  of  Columbus's  kindred,  and 
it  is  quite  possible  some  future  inquirer  will  be  rewarded  for 
his  diligent  search  among  them. 

It  is  also  not  unlikely  that  something  of  interest  may  be 
brought  to  light  respecting  the  descendants  of  Columbus  who 
have  lived  in  Seville,  like  the  Counts  of  Gelves  ;  but  little  can 
be  expected  regarding  the  life  of  the  Admiral  himself. 

The  personal  fame  of  Columbus  is  much  more  intimately  con 
nected  with  the  monastery  of  Santa  Maria  de  las  Cue- 
vas.    Here  his  remains  were  transported  in  1509  ;  and  deiasCue- 

VllS. 

at  a  later  time,  his  brother  and  son,  each  Diego  by 
name,  were  laid  beside  him,  as  was  his  grandson  Luis.  Here 
in  an  iron  chest  the  family  muniments  and  jewels  were  kept, 
as  has  been  said.  It  is  affirmed  that  all  the  documents  which 
might  have  grown  out  of  these  transactions  of  duty  and  precau 
tion,  and  which  might  incidentally  have  yielded  some  biograph 
ical  information,  are  nowhere  to  be  found  in  the  records  of  the 
monastery.  A  century  ago  or  so,  when  Munoz  was  working  in 
these  records,  there  seems  to  have  been  enough  to  repay  his 
exertions,  as  we  know  by  his  citations  made  between  1781  and 
1792. 

The  national  archives  of  the  Torre  do  Tombo,  at  Lisbon, 
begun  so  far  back  as  1390,  are  well  known  to  have  Portuguese 
been  explored  by  Santarem,  then  their  keeper,  pri-  To^reTo 
marily  for  traces  of  the  career  of  Vespucius  ;  but  so  Tombo- 
intelligent  an  antiquary  could  not  have  forgotten,  as  a  second 
ary  aim,  the  acts  of  Columbus.     The  search  yielded  him,  how 
ever,  nothing  in  this  last  direction  ;  nor  was  Varnhagen  more 
fortunate.     Harrisse   had   hopes  to    discover  there  the   corre 
spondence  of  Columbus  with  John  the  Second,  in  1488 ;  but  the 


2o  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

search  was  futile  in  this  respect,  though  it  yielded  not  a  little 
respecting  the  Perestrello  family,  out  of  which  Columbus  took 
his  wife,  the  mother  of  the  heir  of  his  titles.  There  is  even 
hope  that  the  notarial  acts  of  Lisbon  might  serve  a  similar  pur 
pose  to  those  which  have  been  so  fruitful  in  Genoa  and  Savona. 
There  are  documents  of  great  interest  which  may  be  yet  ob 
scurely  hidden  away,  somewhere  in  Portugal,  like  the  letter 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Tagus,  which  Columbus  on  his  return  in 
March,  1493,  addressed  to  the  Portuguese  king,  and  the  diplo= 
matic  correspondence  of  John  the  Second  and  Ferdinand  of 
Aragon,  which  the  project  of  a  second  voyage  occasioned,  as 
well  as  the  preliminaries  of  the  treaty  of  Tordesillas. 

There  may  be  yet  some  hope  from  the  archives  of  Santo 
Santo  DO-  Domingo  itself,  and  from  those  of  its  Cathedral,  to 
wcMves  trace  *n  some  °^  *keir  ^nes  tne  descendants  of  the 

Admiral  through  his  son  Diego.  The  mishaps  of  na 
ture  and  war  have,  however,  much  impaired  the  records.  Of 
Columbus  himself  there  is  scarce  a  chance  to  learn  anything 
Lawsuit  here.  The  papers  of  the  famous  lawsuit  of  Diego 

Colon  with  the  crown  seem  to  have  escaped  the  at 
tention  of  all  the  historians  before  the  time  of  Munoz  and 
Navarrete.  The  direct  line  of  male  descendants  of  the  Ad 
miral  ended  in  1578,  when  his  great-grandson,  Diego  Colon 
y  Pravia,  died  on  the  27th  January,  a  childless  man.  Then 
began  another  contest  for  the  heritage  and  titles,  and  it  lasted 
for  thirty  years,  till  in  1608  the  Council  of  the  Indies  judged 
the  rights  to  descend  by  a  turn  back  to  Diego's  aunt  Isabel, 
and  thence  to  her  grandson,  Nuno  de  Portugallo,  Count  of 
Gelves.  The  excluded  heirs,  represented  by  the  children  of  a 
sister  of  Diego,  Francisca,  who  had  married  Diego  Ortegon, 
were  naturally  not  content ;  and  out  of  the  contest  which  fol 
lowed  we  get  a  large  mass  of  printed  statements  and  counter 
statements,  which  used  with  caution,  offer  a  study  perhaps  of 
some  of  the  transmitted  traits  of  Columbus.  Harrisse  names 
and  describes  nineteen  of  these  documentary  memorials,  the 
last  of  which  bears  date  in  1792.  The  most  important  of  them 
all,  however,  is  one  printed  at  Madrid  in  1606,  known  as  Me 
morial  del  Pleyto,  in  which  we  find  the  descent  of  the  true  and 
spurious  lines,  and  learn  something  too  much  of  the  scandalous 
life  of  Luis,  the  grandson  of  the  Admiral,  to  say  nothing  of  the 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  27 

illegitimate  taints  of  various  other  branches.  Harrisse  finds 
assistance  in  working  out  some  of  the  lines  of  the  Admiral's  de 
scendants,  in  Antonio  Caetano  de  Sousa's  Historia  Genealogica 
da  Casa  Real  Portugueza  (Lisbon,  1735-49,  in  14  vols.). 

The  most  important  collection  of  documents  gathered  by  in 
dividual  efforts  in  Spain,  to  illustrate  the  early  his-  TheMunoZ 
tory  of  the  New  World,  was  that  made  by  Juan  Bau-  collectiou- 
tista  Munoz,  in  pursuance  of  royal  orders  issued  to  him  in  1781 
and  1788,  to  examine  all  Spanish  archives,  for  the  purpose  of 
collecting  material  for  a  comprehensive  History  of  the  Indies. 
Munoz  has  given  in  the  introduction  of  his  history  a  clear 
statement  of  the  condition  of  the  different  depositories  of 
archives  in  Spain,  as  he  found  them  towards  the  end  of  the 
last  century,  when  a  royal  order  opened  them  all  to  his  search. 
A  first  volume  of  Munoz's  elaborate  and  judicious  work  was 
issued  in  1793,  and  Munoz  died  in  1799,  without  venturing  on 
a  second  volume  to  carry  the  story  beyond  1500,  where  he  had 
left  it.  He  was  attacked  for  his  views,  and  there  was  more  or 
less  of  a  pamphlet  war  over  the  book  before  death  took  him 
from  the  strife ;  but  he  left  a  fragment  of  the  second  volume  in 
manuscript,  and  of  this  there  is  a  copy  in  the  Lenox  Library  in 
New  York.  Another  copy  was  sold  in  the  Brinley  sale.  The 
Munoz  collection  of  copies  came  in  part,  at  least,  at  some  time 
after  the  collector's  death  into  the  hands  of  Antonio  de  Uguina, 
who  placed  them  at  the  disposal  of  Irving  ;  and  Ternaux  seems 
also  to  have  used  them.  They  were  finally  deposited  by  the 
Spanish  government  in  the  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid. 
Here  Alfred  Demersey  saw  them  in  1862-63,  and  described 
them  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  French  Geographical  Society  in 
June,  1864,  and  it  is  on  this  description  as  well  as  on  one  in 
Fuster's  Biblioteca  Valenciana,  that  Harrisse  depends,  not 
having  himself  examined  the  documents. 

Martin  Fernandez  de  Navarrete  was  guided  in  his  career  as 
a  collector  of  documents,   when  Charles   the  Fourth  TheNavar 
made  an  order,  October  15, 1789,  that  there  should  be  retecoiiec- 
such   a   work  begun  to   constitute  the  nucleus  of  a 
library  and  museum.     The  troublous  times  which  succeeded  in 
terrupted  the  work,   and  it  was  not  till  1825  that  Navarrete 
brought  out  the  first  volume  of  his  Oolecdon  de  los  Viages  y 
De&cubrimientos   que  hicieron  por  Mar  los   Espanoles  desde 


28  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Fines  del  Siglo  XV.,  a  publication  which  a  fifth  volume  com 
pleted  in  1837,  when  he  was  over  seventy  years  of  age. 

Any  life  of  Columbus  written  from  documentary  sources 
must  reflect  much  light  from  this  collection  of  Navarre te,  of 
which  the  first  two  volumes  are  entirely  given  to  the  career  of 
the  Admiral,  and  indeed  bear  the  distinctive  title  of  Relaciones, 
Cartas  y  otros  Documentos,  relating  to  him. 

Navarrete  was  engaged  thirty  years  on  his  work  in  the  ar 
chives  of  Spain,  and  was  aided  part  of  the  time  by 
searches  of  Munoz  the  historian,  and  by  Gonzales  the  keeper  of 

Navarrete.  o.  ^  A 

the  archives  at  bimancas.  His  researches  extended 
to  all  the  public  repositories,  and  to  such  private  ones  as  could 
be  thought  to  illustrate  the  period  of  discovery.  Navarrete  has 
told  the  story  of  his  searches  in  the  various  archives  of  Spain, 
in  the  introduction  to  his  Coleccion,  and  how  it  was  while 
searching  for  the  evidences  of  the  alleged  voyage  of  Maldonado 
on  the  Pacific  coast  of  North  America,  in  1588,  that  he  stum 
bled  upon  Las  Casas's  copies  of  the  relations  of  Columbus,  for 
his  first  and  third  voyages,  then  hid  away  in  the  archives  of  the 
Due  del  Infantado ;  and  he  was  happy  to  have  first  brought 
them  to  the  attention  of  Munoz. 

There  are  some  advantages  for  the  student  in  the  use  of  the 
French  edition  of  Navarrete's  Relations  des  Quatre  Voyages 
entrvpris  par  Oolomb,  since  the  version  was  revised  by  Navar 
rete  himself,  and  it  is  elucidated,  not  so  much  as  one  would 
wish,  with  notes  by  Remusat,  Balbi,  Cuvier,  Jomard,  Letronne, 
St.  Martin,  Walckenaer,  and  others.  It  was  published  at  Paris 
in  three  volumes  in  1828.  The  work  contains  Navarrete's  ac 
counts  of  Spanish  pre-Columbian  voyages,  of  the  later  literature 
on  Columbus,  and  of  the  voyages  of  discovery  made  by  other 
efforts  of  the  Spaniards,  beside  the  documentary  material  re 
specting  Columbus  and  his  voyages,  the  result  of  his  continued 
labors.  Caleb  Gushing,  in  his  Reminiscences  of  Spain  in  1833? 
while  commending  the  general  purposes  of  Navarrete,  complains 
of  his  attempts  to  divert  the  indignation  of  posterity  from  the 
selfish  conduct  of  Ferdinand,  and  to  vindicate  him  from  the 
charge  of  injustice  towards  Columbus.  This  plea  does  not  find 
to-day  the  same  sympathy  in  students  that  it  did  sixty  years 
ago. 

Father  Antonio  de  Aspa  of  the  monastery  of  the  Mejorada, 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  29 

formed  a  collection  of  documents  relating  to  the  discovery  of 
the  New  World,  and  it  was  in  this  collection,  now  pre 
served  in  the  Academy  of  History  at   Madrid,  that  Academy  of 
Navarrete   discovered    that   curious    narration   of  the 
second  voyage  of  Columbus  by  Dr.  Chanca,  which  had  been  sent 
to  the  chapter  of  the  Cathedral,  and  which  Navarrete  included 
in  his  collection.     It  is  thought  that  Bernaldez  had  used  this 
Chanca  narrative  in  his  Reyes  Catolicos. 

Navarrete's  name  is  also  connected,  as  one  of  its  editors,  with 
the  extensive  Coleccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos  para 
la  Historia  de  Espana,  the  publication  of  which  was  Documentos 
begun  in  Madrid  in  1847,  two  years  before  Navarrete's 
death.     This  collection  yields  something  in  elucidation  of  the 
story  to  be  here  told ;  but  not  much,  except  that  in  it,  at  a  late 
day,  the  Historia  of  Las  Casas  was  first  printed. 

In  1864,  there  was  still  another  series  begun  at  Madrid, 
Coleccion  de  Documentos  Ineditos  relativos  al  Descubri?niento, 
Conquista  y  Colonization  de  las  Posesiones  JSspaholas  en 
America  y  Oceania,  under  the  editing  of  Joaquin  Pacheco  and 
Francisco  de  Cardenas,  who  have  not  always  satisfied  students 
by  the  way  in  which  they  have  done  their  work.  Beyond  the 
papers  which  Navarrete  had  earlier  given,  and  which  are  here  re 
printed,  there  is  not  much  in  this  collection  to  repay  the  student 
of  Columbus,  except  some  long  accounts  of  the  Repartimiento 
in  Espanola. 

The  latest  documentary  contribution  is  the  large  folio,  with 
an  appendix  of  facsimile  writings  of  Columbus,  Ves-  cartasde 
pucius,  and  others,  published  at  Madrid  in  1877,  by  Indias< 
the  government,  and  called    Cartas  de  Indias,  in  which  it  has 
been  hinted  some  use  has  been  made  of  the  matter  accumulated 
by  Navarrete  for  additional  volumes  of  his  Coleccion. 

In  reference  to  the  Declaracion  de  Tabla-  Navigatoria  (ante,  p.  7)  Harrisse 
has  recently  reexamined  the  manuscript  in  the  King's  library  at  Madrid, 
and  finds  it  to  contain  Columbus's  well-known  account  of  his  third  voyage, 
and  a  copy  of  the  marginal  legends  attached  to  the  Paris  copy  of  the  Cabot 
map  of  1544.  as  written  by  a  Dr.  Grajales,  which  is  the  "  carta  de  nave- 
gar  "  referred  to.  Therefore,  Humboldt  and  others  have  erred  in  calling 
it  another  writing  by  Columbus, 


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CHAPTER  II. 

BIOGRAPHERS    AND   PORTRAITISTS. 

WE  may  most  readily  divide  by  the  nationalities  of  the  writers 
our  enumeration  of  those  who  have  used  the  material  which  has 
been  considered  in  the  previous  chapter.  We  begin,  naturally, 
with  the  Italians,  the  countrymen  of  Columbus.  We  may  look 
first  to  three  Genoese,  and  it  has  been  shown  that  while  they 
contempo-  use^  documents  apparently  now  lost,  they  took  nothing 
rary  notices,  f rom  them  which  we  cannot  get  from  other  sources  ; 
and  they  all  borrowed  from  common  originals,  or  from  each 
other.  Two  of  these  writers  are  Antonio  Gallo,  the  official 
chronicler  of  the  Genoese  Republic,  on  the  first  and  second  voy 
ages  of  Columbus,  and  so  presumably  writing  before  the  third 
was  made,  and  Bartholomew  Senarega  on  the  affairs  of  Genoa, 
both  of  which  recitals  were  published  by  Muratori,  in  his  great 
Italian  collection.  The  third  is  Giustiniani,  the  Bishop  of 
Nebbio,  who,  publishing  in  1516,  at  Genoa,  a  polyglot  Psalter, 
added,  as  one  of  his  elucidations  of  the  nineteenth  psalm,  on  the 
plea  that  Columbus  had  often  boasted  he  was  chosen  to  fulfill 
its  prophecy,  a  brief  life  of  Columbus,  in  which  the  story  of  the 
humble  origin  of  the  navigator  has  in  the  past  been  supposed 
to  have  first  been  told.  The  other  accounts,  it  now  appears, 
had  given  that  condition  an  equal  prominence.  Giu= 
stiniani  was  but  a  child  when  Columbus  left  Genoa, 
and  could  not  have  known  him  ;  and  taking,  very  likely,  much 
from  hearsay,  he  might  have  made  some  errors,  which  were  re 
peated  or  only  partly  corrected  in  his  Annals  of  Genoa,  pub 
lished  in  1537,  the  year  following  his  own  death.  It  is  not  found, 
however,  that  the  sketch  is  in  any  essential  particular  far  from 
correct,  and  it  has  been  confirmed  by  recent  investigations.  The 
English  of  it  is  given  in  Harrisse's  Notes  on  Columbus  (pp. 
74-79).  The  statements  of  the  Psalter  respecting  Columbus 
were  reckoned  with  other  things  so  false  that  the  Senate  of 


32  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Genoa  prohibited  its  perusal  and  allowed  no  one  to  possess  it, 
—  at  least  so  it  is  claimed  in  the  Historie  of  1571 ;  but  no  one 
has  ever  found  such  a  decree,  nor  is  it  mentioned  by  any  who 
would  have  been  likely  to  revert  to  it,  had  it  ever  existed. 

The  account  in  the  Collectanea  of  Battista  Fulgoso  (some 
times  written  Fregoso),  printed  at  Milan  in  1509,  is  of  scarcely 
any  original  value,  though  of  interest  as  the  work  of  another 
Genoese.  Allegetto  degli  Allegetti,  whose  Ephemerides  is  also 
published  in  Muratori,  deserves  scarcely  more  credit,  though  he 
seems  to  have  got  his  information  from  the  letters  of  Italian 
merchants  living  in  Spain,  who  communicated  current  news  to 
Ber  oma  *neir  home  correspondents.  Bergomas,  who  had  pub 
lished  a  chronicle  as  early  as  1483,  made  additions  to 
his  work  from  time  to  time,  and  in  an  edition  printed  at  Venice, 
in  1503,  he  paraphrased  Columbus's  own  account  of  his  first 
voyage,  which  was  reprinted  in  the  subsequent  edition  of  1506. 
In  this  latter  year  Maffei  de  Volterra  published  a  commentary 
at  Kome,  of  much  the  same  importance.  Such  was  the  filtering 
process  by  which  Italy,  through  her  own  writers,  acquired  con 
temporary  knowledge  of  her  adventurous  son. 

The  method  was  scarcely  improved  in  the  condensation  of 
Jovius  (1551),  or  in  the  traveler's  tales  of  Benzoni  (1565). 

Harrisse  affirms  that  it  is  not  till  we  come  down  to  the 
casoni,  Annals  of  Genoa,  published  by  Filippo  Casoni,  in 
1708,  that  we  get  any  new  material  in  an  Italian 
writer,  and  on  a  few  points  this  last  writer  has  adduced  docu 
mentary  evidence,  not  earlier  made  known.  It  is  only  when  we 
pass  into  the  present  century  that  we  find  any  of  the  country 
men  of  Columbus  undertaking  in  a  sustained  way  to  tell  the 
whole  story  of  Columbus's  life.  Leon  had  noted  that  at  some 
time  in  Spain,  without  giving  place  and  date,  Columbus  had 
printed  a  little  tract,  Declaration  de  Tdbla  Navigatoria ;  but 
no  one  before  Luigi  Bossi  had  undertaken  to  investigate  the 
writings  of  Columbus.  He  is  precursor  of  all  the 
modern  biographers  of  Columbus,  and  his  book  was 
published  at  Milan,  in  1818.  He  claimed  in  his  appendix  to 
have  added  rare  and  unpublished  documents,  but  Harrisse 
points  out  how  they  had  all  been  printed  earlier. 

Bossi  expresses  opinions  respecting  the  Spanish  nation  that 
are  by  no  means  acceptable  to  that  people,  and  Navarrete  not 


BIOGRAPHERS.  33 

infrequently  takes  the  Italian  writer  to  task  for  this  as  for  his 
many  errors  of  statement,  and  for  the  confidence  which  he 
places  even  in  the  pictorial  designs  of  De  Bry  as  historical 
records. 

There  is  nothing  more  striking  in  the  history  of  American 
discovery  than  the  fact  that  the  Italian  people  furnished  to 
Spain  Columbus,  to  England  Cabot,  and  to  France  Verrazano ; 
and  that  the  three  leading  powers  of  Europe,  following  as  mari 
time  explorers  in  the  lead  of  Portugal,  who  could  not  dispense 
with  Vespucius,  another  Italian,  pushed  their  rights  through 
men  whom  they  had  borrowed  from  the  central  region  of  the 
Mediterranean,  while  Italy  in  its  own  name  never  possessed  a 
rood  of  American  soil.  The  adopted  country  of  each  of  these 
Italians  gave  more  or  less  of  its  own  impress  to  its  foster  child. 
No  one  of  these  men  was  so  impressible  as  Columbus,  and  no 
country  so  much  as  Spain  was  likely  at  this  time  to  exercise  an 
influence  on  the  character  of  an  alien.  Humboldt  has  remarked 
that  Columbus  got  his  theological  fervor  in  Andalusia  and 
Granada,  and  we  can  scarcely  imagine  Columbus  in  the  garb  of 
a  Franciscan  walking  the  streets  of  free  and  commercial  Genoa 
as  he  did  those  of  Seville,  when  he  returned  from  his  second 
voyage. 

The  latest  of  the  considerable  popular  Italian  lives  of  Colum 
bus  is  G.  B.  Lemoyne's  Colombo  e  la  Scoperta  deW  America, 
issued  at  Turin,  in  1873. 

We  may  pass  now  to  the  historians  of  that  country  to  which 
Columbus  betook  himself  on  leaving  Italy ;  but  about  all  to  be 
found  at  first  hand  is  in  the  chronicle  of  Joao  II.  of  Portuguese 
Portugal,  as  prepared  by  Ruy  de  Pina,  the  archivist  writers> 
of  the  Torre  do  Tombo.  At  the  time  of  the  voyage  of  Colum 
bus  Ruy  was  over  fifty,  while  Garcia  de  Resende  was  a  young 
man  then  living  at  the  Portuguese  court,  who  in  his  Choronica, 
published  in  1596,  did  little  more  than  borrow  from  his  elder, 
Ruy ;  and  Resende  in  turn  furnished  to  Joao  de  Barros  the 
staple  of  the  latter's  narrative  in  his  Decada  da  Asia,  printed 
at  Lisbon,  in  1752. 

We  find  more  of  value  when  we  summon  the  Spanish  writers. 
Although  Peter  Martyr  d'Anghiera  was  an  Italian,  Munoz 


34  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

reckons  him  a  Spaniard,  since  he  was  naturalized  in  Spain. 
Spanish  He  was  a  man  of  thirty  years,  when,  coming  from 
writers.  Rome,  he  settled  in  Spain,  a  few  years  before  Colum 
bus  attracted  much  notice.  Martyr  had  been  borne  thither 
Peter  on  a  reputation  of  his  own,  which  had  commended 

Martyr.  njg  busy  young  nature  to  the  attention  of  the  Spanish 
court.  He  took  orders  and  entered  upon  a  prosperous  career, 
proceeding  by  steps,  which  successively  made  him  the  chaplain 
of  Queen  Isabella,  a  prior  of  the  Cathedral  of  Granada,  and 
ultimately  the  official  chronicler  of  the  Indies.  Very  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  Spain,  he  had  disclosed  a  quick  eye  for  the 
changeful  life  about  him,  and  he  began  in  1488  the  writing  of 
those  letters  which,  to  the  number  of  over  eight  hundred,  exist  to 
attest  his  active  interest  in  the  events  of  his  day.  These  events 
he  continued  to  observe  till  1525.  We  have  no  more  vivid 
source  of  the  contemporary  history,  particularly  as  it  concerned 
the  maritime  enterprise  of  the  peninsular  peoples.  He  wrote 
fluently,  and,  as  he  tells  us,  sometimes  while  waiting  for  dinner, 
and  necessarily  with  haste.  He  jotted  down  first  and  uncon 
firmed  reports,  and  let  them  stand.  He  got  news  by  hearsay, 
and  confounded  events.  He  had  candor  and  sincerity  enough, 
however,  not  to  prize  his  own  works  above  their  true  value. 
He  knew  Columbus,  and,  his  letters  readily  reflect  what  in 
terest  there  was  in  the  exploits  of  Columbus,  immediately  on 
his  return  from  his  first  voyage  ;  but  the  earlier  preparations 
of  the  navigator  for  that  voyage,  with  the  problematical  char 
acteristics  of  the  undertaking,  do  not  seem  to  have  made  any 
impression  upon  Peter  Martyr,  and  it  is  not  till  May  of  1493, 
when  the  discovery  had  been  made,  and  later  in  September,  that 
he  chronicles  the  divulged  existence  of  the  newly  discovered 
islands.  The  three  letters  in  which  this  wonderful  intelligence 
was  first  communicated  are  printed  by  Harrisse  in  English,  in 
his  Notes  on  Columbus.  Las  Casas  tells  us  how  Peter  Martyr 
got  his  accounts  of  the  first  discoveries  directly  from  the  lips  of 
Columbus  himself  and  from  those  who  accompanied  him  ;  but 
he  does  not  fail  to  tell  us  also  of  the  dangers  of  too  implicitly 
trusting  to  all  that  Peter  says.  From  May  14,  1493,  to  June  5, 
1497,  in  twelve  separate  letters,  we  read  what  this  observer  has 
to  say  of  the  great  navigator  who  had  suddenly  and  temporarily 
stepped  into  the  glare  of  notice.  These  and  other  letters  of 


BIOGRAPHERS.  35 

Peter  Martyr  have  not  escaped  some  serious  criticism.  There 
are  contradictions  and  anachronisms  in  them  that  have  forcibly 
helped  Ranke,  Hallam,  Gerigk,  and  others  to  count  the  text 
which  we  have  as  more  or  less  changed  from  what  must  have 
been  the  text,  if  honestly  written  by  Martyr.  They  have  im 
agined  that  some  editor,  willful  or  careless,  has  thrown  this 
luckless  accompaniment  upon  them.  The  letters,  however, 
claimed  the  confidence  of  Prescott,  and  have,  as  regards  the 
parts  touching  the  new  discoveries,  seldom  failed  to  impress 
with  their  importance  those  who  have  used  them.  It  is  the 
opinion  of  the  last  examiner  of  them,  J.  H.  Mariejol,  in  his 
Peter  Martyr  d'Anghera  (Paris,  1887),  that  to  read  them  at 
tentively  is  the  best  refutation  of  the  skeptics.  Martyr  ceased 
to  refer  to  the  affairs  of  the  New  World  after  1499,  and  those 
of  his  earlier  letters  which  illustrate  the  early  voyage  have 
appeared  in  a  French  version,  made  by  Gaffarel  and  Louvot 
(Paris,  1885). 

The  representations  of  Columbus  easily  convinced  Martyr 
that  there  opened  a  subject  worthy  of  his  pen,  and  he  set  about 
composing  a  special  treatise  on  the  discoveries  in  the  New  World, 
and,  under  the  title  of  De  Orbe  Novo,  it  occupied  his  attention 
from  October,  1494,  to  the  day  of  his  death.  For  the  earlier 
years  he  had,  if  we  may  believe  him,  not  a  little  help  from  Co 
lumbus  himself ;  and  it  would  seem  from  his  one  hundred  and 
thirty-five  epistles  that  he  was  not  altogether  prepared  to  go 
with  Columbus,  in  accounting  the  new  islands  as  lying  off  the 
coast  of  Asia.  He  is  particularly  valuable  to  us  in  treating  of 
Columbus's  conflicts  with  the  natives  of  Espanola,  and  Das 
Casas  found  him  as  helpful  as  we  do. 

These  Decades,  as  the  treatise  is  usually  called,  formed  en 
larged  bulletins,  which,  in  several  copies,  were  transmitted  by 
him  to  some  of  his  noble  friends  in  Italy,  to  keep  them  conver 
sant  with  the  passing  events. 

A  certain  Angelo  Trivigiano,  into  whose  hands  a  copy  of  some 
of  the  early  sections  fell,  translated  them  into  easy, 

i  T      i.  -rr       •          •        Trivigiano. 

not  to  say  vulgar,  Italian,  and  sent  them  to  Venice,  in 
four  different  copies,  a  few  months  after  they  were  written ;  and 
in  this  way  the  first  seven  books  of  the  first  decade  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  Venetian  printer,  who,  in  April,  1504,  brought  out 
a  little  book  of  sixteen  leaves  in  the  dialect    of  that  region, 


36  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

known  in  bibliography  as  the  Libretto  de  Tutta  la  Navigation 
de  Re  de  Spagna  de  le  Isole  et  Terreni  novamente  trovati. 
This  publication  is  known  to  us  in  a  single  copy  lacking  a 
title,  in  the  Biblioteca  Marciana.  Here  we  have  the  first  ac 
count  of  the  new  discoveries,  written  upon  report,  and  supple 
menting  the  narrative  of  Columbus  himself.  We  also  find  in 
this  little  narrative  some  personal  details  about  Columbus,  not 
contained  in  the  same  portions  when  embodied  in  the  larger 
De  Orbe  Novo  of  Martyr,  and  it  may  be  a  question  if  some 
body  who  acted  as  editor  to  the  Venetian  version  may  not  have 
added  them  to  the  translation.  The  story  of  the  new  discover 
ies  attracted  enough  notice  to  make  Zorzi  or  Montalboddo  —  if 
one  or  the  other  were  its  editor  —  include  this  Venetian  version 
of  Martyr  bodily  in  the  collection  of  voyages  which,  as  Paesi 
novamente  retrovati,  was  published  at  Vicentia  somewhere  about 
November,  1507.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  measure  of  the  interest 
felt  in  the  undertakings  of  Columbus,  not  easily  understood  at 
this  day,  that  it  took  fourteen  years  for  a  scant  recital  of  such 
events  to  work  themselves  into  the  context  of  so  composite  a 
record  of  discovery  as  the  Paesi  proved  to  be ;  and  still  more 
remarkable  it  may  be  accounted  that  the  story  could  be  told 
with  but  few  actual  references  to  the  hero  of  the  transactions, 
"  Columbus,  the  Genoese."  It  is  not  only  the  compiler  who  is 
so  reticent,  but  it  is  the  author  whence  he  borrowed  what  he 
had  to  say,  Martyr  himself,  the  observer  and  acquaintance  of 
Columbus,  who  buries  the  discoverer  under  the  event.  With 
such  an  augury,  it  is  not  so  strange  that  at  about  the  same  time 
in  the  little  town  of  St.  Die,  in  the  Vosges,  a  sequestered  teacher 
could  suggest  a  name  derived  from  that  of  a  follower  of  Co 
lumbus,  Americus  Vespucius,  for  that  part  of  the  new  lands 
then  brought  into  prominence.  If  the  documentary  proofs  of 
Columbus's  priority  had  given  to  the  Admiral's  name  the  same 
prominence  which  the  event  received,  the  result  might  not,  in 
the  end,  have  been  so  discouraging  to  justice. 

Martyr,  unfortunately,  with  all  his  advantages,  and  with  his 
access  to  the  archives  of  the  Indies,  did  not  burden  his  recital 
with  documents.  He  was  even  less  observant  of  the  lighter 
traits  that  interest  those  eager  for  news  than  might  have  been 
expected,  for  the  busy  chaplain  was  a  gossip  by  nature  :  he  liked 
to  retail  hearsays  and  rumors  ;  he  enlivened  his  letters  with 


BIOGRAPHERS.  37 

personal  characteristics ;  but  in  speaking  of  Columbus  lie  is 
singularly  reticent  upon  all  that  might  picture  the  man  to  us  as 
he  lived. 

When,  in  1534,  these  portions  of  Martyr's  Decades  were  com 
bined  with  a  summary  of  Oviedo,  in  a  fresh  publica-  oviedo. 
tion,  there  were  some  curious  personal  details  added  to  R^11810- 
Martyr's  narrative  ;  but  as  Ramusio  is  supposed  to  have  edited 
the  compilation,  these  particulars  are  usually  accredited  to  that 
author.  It  is  not  known  whence  this  Italian  compiler  could 
have  got  them,  and  there  is  no  confirmation  of  them  elsewhere 
to  be  found.  If  these  additions,  as  is  supposed,  were  a  foreign 
graft  upon  Martyr's  recitals,  the  staple  of  his  narrative  still  re 
mains  not  altogether  free  from  some  suspicions  that,  as  a  writer 
himself,  he  was  not  wholly  frank  and  trustworthy.  At  least  a 
certain  confusion  in  his  method  leads  some  of  the  critics  to  dis 
cover  something  like  imposture  in  what  they  charge  as  a  habit 
of  antedating  a  letter  so  as  to  appear  prophetic ;  while  his  de 
fenders  find  in  these  same  evidences  of  incongruity  a  sign  of 
spontaneity  that  argues  freshness  and  sincerity. 

The  confidence  which  we  may  readily  place  in  what  is  said 
of  Columbus  in  the  chronicle  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella,  written  by  Andres  Bemaldez,  is  prompted  by  his 
acquaintance  with  Columbus,  and  by  his  being  the  recipient  of 
some  of  the  navigator's  own  writings  from  his  own  hands.  He 
is  also  known  to  have  had  access  to  what  Chanca  and  other 
companions  of  Columbus  had  written.  This  country  curate, 
who  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Seville,  was  also  the  chaplain 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Seville,  a  personal  friend  of  the  Admiral, 
and  from  him  Bernaldez  received  some  help.  He  does  not  add 
much,  however,  to  what  is  given  us  by  Peter  Martyr,  though 
in  respect  to  the  second  voyage  and  to  a  few  personal  details 
Bernaldez  is  of  some  confirmatory  value.  The  manuscript  of 
his  narrative  remained  unprinted  in  the  royal  library  at  Madrid 
till  about  thirty-five  years  ago ;  but  nearly  all  the  leading 
writers  have  made  use  of  it  in  copies  which  have  been  fur 
nished. 

In  coming  to   Oviedo,  we  encounter  a  chronicler  who,  as  a 
writer,  possesses  an  art  far  from  skillful.     Munoz  laments  that 


38  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

his  learning  was  not  equal  to  his  diligence.  He  finds  him  of 
little  service  for  the  times  of  Columbus,  and  largely 
because  he  was  neglectful  of  documents  and  pursued 
uncritical  combinations  of  tales  and  truths.  With  all  his  vaga 
ries  he  is  a  helpful  guide.  "  It  is  not,"  says  Harrisse,  "  that 
Oviedo  shows  so  much  critical  sagacity,  as  it  is  that  he  col 
lates  all  the  sources  available  to  him,  and  gives  the  reader  the 
clues  to  a  final  judgment."  He  is  generally  deemed  honest, 
though  Las  Casas  thought  him  otherwise.  The  author  of  the 
Historie  looks  upon  him  as  an  enemy  of  Columbus,  and  would 
make  it  appear  that  he  listened  to  the  tales  of  the  Pinzons, 
who  were  enemies  of  the  Admiral.  His  administrative  services 
in  the  Indies  show  that  he  could  be  faithful  to  a  trust,  even  at 
the  risk  of  popularity.  This  gives  a  presumption  in  favor  of 
his  historic  fairness.  He  was  intelligent  if  not  learned,  and 
a  power  of  happy  judgments  served  him  in  good  stead,  even 
with  a  somewhat  loose  method  of  taking  things  as  he  heard 
them.  He  further  inspires  us  with  a  certain  amount  of  confi 
dence,  because  he  is  not  always  a  hero-worshiper,  and  he  does 
not  hesitate  to  tell  a  story,  which  seems  to  have  been  in  circu 
lation,  to  the  effect  that  Columbus  got  his  geographical  ideas 
from  an  old  pilot.  Oviedo,  however,  refrains  from  setting  the 
tale  down  as  a  fact,  as  some  of  the  later  writers,  using  little  of 
Oviedo's  caution,  and  borrowing  from  him,  did.  His  opportu 
nities  of  knowing  the  truth  were  certainly  exceptional,  though  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  ever  had  direct  communication  with  the 
Admiral  himself.  He  was  but  a  lad  of  fifteen  when  we  find 
him  jotting  down  notes  of  what  he  saw  and  heard,  as  a  page  in 
attendance  upon  Don  Juan,  the  son  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns, 
when,  at  Barcelona,  he  saw  them  receive  Columbus  after  his 
first  voyage.  During  five  years,  between  1497  and  1502,  he  was, 
in  Italy.  With  that  exception  he  was  living  within  the  Span 
ish  court  up  to  1514,  when  he  was  sent  to  the  New  World,  and 
passed  there  the  greater  part  of  his  remaining  life.  While  he 
had  been  at  court  in  his  earlier  years,  the  sons  of  Columbus, 
Diego  and  Ferdinand,  were  his  companions  in  the  pages'  ante 
room,  and  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  profit  by  their  ac 
quaintance.  We  know  that  from  the  younger  son  he  did 
derive  not  a  little  information.  When  he  went  to  America, 
some  of  Columbus's  companions  and  followers  were  still  living, 


BIOGRAPHERS.  39 

—  Pinzon,  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  Diego  Velasquez,  —  and  all 
these  could  hardly  have  failed  to  help  him  in  his  note-taking. 
He  also  tells  us  that  he  sought  some  of  the  Italian  compatriots 
of  the  Admiral,  though  Harrisse  judges  that  what  he  got  from 
them  was  not  altogether  trustworthy.  Oviedo  rose  naturally  in 
due  time  into  the  position  of  chronicler  of  the  Indies,  and  tried 
his  skill  at  first  in  a  descriptive  account  of  the  New  World.  A 
command  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  with  all  the  facilities  which 
such  an  order  implied,  though  doubtless  in  some  degree  embar 
rassed  by  many  of  the  documentary  proofs  being  preserved 
rather  in  Spain  than  in  the  Indies,  finally  set  him  to  work  on  a 
Historia  General  de  las  Indias,  the  opening  portions  of  which, 
and  those  covering  the  career  of  Columbus,  were  printed  at 
Seville  in  1535.  It  is  the  work  of  a  consistent  though  not 
blinded  admirer  of  the  Discoverer,  and  while  we  might  wish  he 
had  helped  us  to  more  of  the  proofs  of  his  narrative,  his  recital 
is,  on  the  whole,  one  to  be  signally  grateful  for. 

Gornara,  in  the  early  part  of  his  history,  mixed  up  what  he 
took  from  Oviedo  with  what  else  came  in  his  way,  with  an  avid 
ity  that  rejected  little. 

But  it  is  to  a  biography  of  Columbus,  written  by  his  youngest 
son,    Ferdinand,    as   was   universally  believed  up  to  Historic  ™- 
1871,  that  all  the  historians  of  the  Admiral  have  been  ^^d 
mainly  indebted  for  the  personal  details   and    other  Columbus- 
circumstances  which  lend  vividness  to  his  story.     As  the  book 
has  to-day  a  good   many  able  defenders,  notwithstanding  the 
discredit  which  Harrisse  has  sought  to  place  upon  it,  it  is  worth 
while  to  trace  the  devious  paths  of  its  transmission,  and  to  meas 
ure  the  burden  of  confidence  placed  upon  it  from  the  days  of 
Ferdinand  to  our  own. 

The  rumor  goes  that  some  of  the  statements  in  the  Psalter 
note  of  1516,  particularly  one  respecting  the  low  origin  of  the 
Admiral,  disturbed  the  pride  of  Ferdinand  to  such  a  degree  that 
this  son  of  Columbus  undertook  to  leave  behind  him  a  detailed 
account  of  his  father's  career,  such  as  the  Admiral,  though 
urged  to  do  it,  had  never  found  time  to  write.  Ferdinand  was 
his  youngest  son,  and  was  born  only  three  or  four  years  before 
his  father  left  Palos.  There  are  two  dates  given  for  his  birth, 
each  apparently  on  good  authority,  but  these  are  a  year  apart. 


40  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

The  language  of  Columbus's  will,  as  well  as  the  explicit  state 
ments  of  Oviedo  and  Las  Casas,  leaves  no  reasonable  ground 
for  doubting  his  illegitimacy.  Bastardy  was  no  bar  to  heirship 
in  Spain,  if  a  testator  chose  to  make  a  natural  son  his  heir,  as 
Columbus  did,  in  giving  Ferdinand  the  right  to  his  titles  after 
the  failure  of  heirs  to  Diego,  his  legitimate  son.  Columbus's 
influence  early  found  him  a  place  as  a  page  at  court,  and  during 
the  Admiral's  fourth  voyage,  in  1502-1504,  the  boy  accompa 
nied  his  father,  and  once  or  twice  at  a  later  day  he  again  visited 
the  Indies.  When  Columbus  died,  this  son  inherited  many  of 
his  papers ;  but  if  his  own  avowal  be  believed,  he  had 
Ferdinand  neglected  occasions  in  his  father's  lifetime  to  question 
the  Admiral  respecting  his  early  life,  not  having,  as  he 
says,  at  that  time  learned  to  have  interest  in  such  matters. 
His  subsequent  education  at  court,  however,  implanted  in  his 
mind  a  good  deal  of  the  scholar's  taste,  and  as  a  courtier  in 
attendance  upon  Charles  the  Fifth  he  had  seasons  of  travel, 
visiting  pretty  much  every  part  of  Western  Europe,  during 
which  he  had  opportunities  to  pick  up  in  many  places  a  large 
collection  of  books.  He  often  noted  in  them  the  place  and  date 
of  purchase,  so  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  learn  in  this  way  some 
thing  of  his  wanderings. 

The  income  of  Ferdinand  was  large,  or  the  equivalent  of 
what  Harrisse  calls  to-day  180,000  francs,  which  was  derived 
from  territorial  rights  in  San  Domingo,  coming  to  him  from  the 
Admiral,  increased  by  slave  labor  in  the  mines,  assigned  to  him 
by  King  Ferdinand,  which  at  one  time  included  the  service  of 
four  hundred  Indians,  and  enlarged  by  pensions  bestowed  by 
Charles  the  Fifth. 

It  has  been  said  sometimes  that  he  was  in  orders ;  but  Har 
risse,  his  chief  biographer,  could  find  no  proof  of  it.  Oviedo 
describes  him  in  1535  as  a  person  of  "  much  nobility  of  char 
acter,  of  an  affable  turn  and  of  a  sweet  conversation." 

When  he  died  at  Seville,  July  12,  1539,  he  had  amassed  a 
Bibiioteca  collection  of  books,  variously  estimated  in  contempo- 
coiombina.  rarv  accounts  a^  frOm  twelve  to  twenty  thousand  vol 
umes.  Harrisse,  in  his  Grandeur  et  Decadence  de  la  Colom- 
bine  (2d  ed.,  Paris,  1885),  represents  Ferdinand  as  having 
searched  from  1510  to  1537  all  the  principal  book  marts  of 
Europe.  He  left  these  books  by  will  to  his  minor  nephew,  Luis 


BIOGRAPHERS.  41 

Colon,  son  of  Diego,  but  there  was  a  considerable  delay  before 
Luis  renounced  the  legacy,  with  the  conditions  attached.  Legal 
proceedings,  which  accompanied  the  transactions  of  its  execu 
tors,  so  delayed  the  consummation  of  the  alternative  injunction 
of  the  will  that  the  chapter  of  the  Cathedral  of  Seville,  which 
was  to  receive  the  library  in  case  Don  Luis  declined  it,  did  not 
get  possession  of  it  till  1552. 

The  care  of  it  which  ensued  seems  to  have  been  of  a  varied 
nature.  Forty  years  later  a  scholar  bitterly  complains  that  it 
was  inaccessible.  It  is  known  that  by  royal  command  certain 
books  and  papers  were  given  up  to  enrich  the  national  archives, 
which,  however,  no  longer  contain  them.  When,  in  1684,  the 
monks  awoke  to  a  sense  of  their  responsibility  and  had  a  new 
inventory  of  the  books  made,  it  was  found  that  the  collection 
had  been  reduced  to  four  or  five  thousand  volumes.  After  the 
librarian  who  then  had  charge  of  it  died  in  1709,  the  collection 
again  fell  into  neglect.  There  are  sad  stories  of  roistering 
children  let  loose  in  its  halls  to  make  havoc  of  its  treasures. 
There  was  no  responsible  care  again  taken  of  it  till  a  new 
librarian  was  chosen,  in  1832,  who  discovered  what  any  one 
might  have  learned  before,  that  the  money  which  Ferdinand 
left  for  the  care  and  increase  of  the  library  had  never  been 
applied  to  it,  and  that  the  principal,  even,  had  disappeared. 
Other  means  of  increasing  it  were  availed  of,  and  the  loss  of 
the  original  inestimable  bibliographical  treasures  was  forgotten 
in  the  crowd  of  modern  books  which  were  placed  upon  its 
shelves.  Amid  all  this  new  growth,  it  does  not  appear  just  how 
many  of  the  books  which  descended  from  Ferdinand  still 
remain  in  it.  Something  of  the  old  carelessness  —  to  give  it  no 
worse  name  —  has  despoiled  it,  even  as  late  as  1884  and  1885, 
when  large  numbers  of  the  priceless  treasures  still  remaining 
found  a  way  to  the  Quay  Voltaire  and  other  marts  for  old 
books  in  Paris,  while  others  were  disposed  of  in  London, 
Amsterdam,  and  even  in  Spain.  This  outrage  was  promptly 
exposed  by  Harrisse  in  the  Revue  Critique,  and  in  two  mono 
graphs,  Grandeur  et  Decadence,  etc.,  already  named,  and  in  his 
Colombine  et  Clement  Marot  (Paris,  1886)  ;  and  the  story  has 
been  further  recapitulated  in  the  accounts  of  Ferdinand  and  his 
library,  which  Harrisse  has  also  given  in  his  Excerpta  Colom- 
biana:  Bibliogra^)hie  de  Quatre  Cents  Pieces  Gothiques 


42  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Alma  tuum  facro  Trftoma  pctfus  oliuo 
Fudit  t2£  inde  fcatet  neftar  :amoma  fluunt, 

Te  fouet  Aegidium  qux  poffidet  Aegida  Paflas 
In  for  mas  tribuens  vertere  faxa  noua?« 

Aegidos  in  Slices  vcrtebat  corpora  terror* 
Infolita  ex  faxis  conf  icis  arte  vi  ros  . 


.  o.-b 


^ 


SPECIMENS  OF  THE  NOTES  OF  FERDINAND  COLUMBUS  ON  HIS  BOOKS. 
[From  Harrisse's  Grandeur  et  Decadence  de  la  Colombine  (Paris,  1885).] 


BIOGRAPHERS.  43 

Francaises,  Italiennes  et  Latines  du  Commencement  du  XVI 
Siecle  (Paris,  1887),  an  account  of  book  rarities  found  in  that 
library. 

We  are  fortunate,  nevertheless,  in  having  a  manuscript  cata 
logue  of  it  in  Ferdinand's  own  hand,  though  not  a  complete 
one,  for  he  died  while  he  was  making  it.  This  library,  as  well 
as  what  we  know  of  his  writings  and  of  the  reputation  which  he 
bore  among  his  contemporaries,  many  of  whom  speak  of  him 
and  of  his  library  with  approbation,  shows  us  that  a  habit, 
careless  of  inquiry  in  his  boyhood,  gave  place  in  his  riper  years 
to  study  and  respect  for  learning.  He  is  said  by  the  inscription 
on  his  tomb  to  have  composed  an  extensive  work  on  the  New 
World  and  his  father's  finding  of  it,  but  it  has  disappeared. 
Neither  in  his  library  nor  in  his  catalogue  do  we  find  any  trace 
of  the  life  of  his  father  which  he  is  credited  with  having  pre 
pared.  None  of  his  friends,  some  of  them  writers  on  the  New 
World,  make  any  mention  of  such  a  book.  There  is  in  the  cat 
alogue  a  note,  however,  of  a  life  of  Columbus  written  about 
1525,  of  which  the  manuscript  is  credited  to  Ferdi-  Perezde 
nand  Perez  de  Oliva,  a  man  of  some  repute,  who  died  Oliva< 
in  1530.  Whether  this  writing  bore  any  significant  relation  to 
the  life  which  is  associated  with  the  owner  of  the  library  is 
apparently  beyond  discovery.  It  can  scarcely  be  supposed 
that  it  could  have  been  written  other  than  with  Ferdinand's 
cognizance.  That  there  was  an  account  of  the  Admiral's 
career,  quoted  in  Las  Casas  and  attributed  to  Ferdinand 
Columbus,  and  that  it  existed  before  1559,  seems  to  be  nearly 
certain.  A  manuscript  of  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  by 
Gonzalo  Argote  de  Molina,  mentions  a  report  that  Ferdinand 
had  written  a  life  of  his  father.  Harrisse  tells  us  that  he  has 
seen  a  printed  book  catalogue,  apparently  of  the  time  of  Munoz 
or  Navarette,  in  which  a  Spanish  life  of  Columbus  by  Ferdinand 
Columbus  is  entered ;  but  the  fact  stands  without  any  explana 
tion  or  verification.  Spotorno,  in  1823,  in  an  introduction  to 
his  collection  of  documents  about  Columbus,  says  that  the  man 
uscript  of  what  has  passed  for  Ferdinand's  memoir  of  his  father 
was  taken  from  Spain  to  Genoa  by  Luis  Colon,  the  Duke  of 
Veragua,  son  of  Diego  and  grandson  of  Christopher  Columbus. 
It  is  not  known  that  Luis  ever  had  any  personal  relations  with 
Ferdinand,  who  died  while  Luis  was  still  in  Santo  Domingo. 


44  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

It  is  said  that  it  was  in  1568  that  Luis  took  the  manuscript  to 
Genoa,  but  in  that  year  he  is  known  to  have  been  living  else 
where.  He  had  been  arrested  in  Spain  in  1558  for  having 
three  wives,  when  he  was  exiled  to  Oran,  in  Africa,  for  ten 
years,  and  he  died  in  1572.  Spotorno  adds  that  the  manu 
script  afterwards  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  patrician,  Marini, 
from  whom  Alfonzo  de  Ullua  received  it,  and  translated  it  into 
Italian.  It  is  shown,  however,  that  Marini  was  not  living  at 
this  time.  The  original  Spanish,  if  that  was  the  tongue  of  the 
manuscript,  then  disappeared,  and  the  world  has  only  known  it 

in  this  Italian  Historie,  published  in  1571.  Whether 
of  the  HIS-  the  copy  brought  to  Italy  had  been  in  any  way 

changed  from  its  original  condition,  or  whether  the 
version  then  made  public  fairly  represented  it,  there  does  not 
seem  any  way  of  determining  to  the  satisfaction  of  everybody. 
At  all  events,  the  world  thought  it  had  got  something  of  value 
and  of  authority,  and  in  sundry  editions  and  retranslations, 
with  more  or  less  editing  and  augmentation,  it  has  passed  down 
to  our  time  —  the  last  edition  appearing  in  1867  —  unques 
tioned  for  its  service  to  the  biographers  of  Columbus.  Munoz 
hardly  knew  what  to  make  of  some  of  "its  unaccountable 
errors,"  and  conjectured  that  the  Italian  version  had  been  made 
from  "a  corrupt  and  false  copy;"  and  coupling  with  it  the 
"miserable"  Spanish  rendering  in  Barcia's  Historiadores, 
Munoz  adds  that  "  a  number  of  falsities  and  absurdities  is  dis 
cernible  in  both."  Humboldt  had  indeed  expressed  wonder  at 
the  ignorance  of  the  book  in  nautical  matters,  considering  the 
reputation  which  Ferdinand  held  in  such  affairs.  It  began  the 
Admiral's  story  in  detail  when  he  was  said  to  be  fifty-six  years 
of  age.  It  has  never  been  clear  to  all  minds  that  Ferdinand's 
asseveration  of  a  youthful  want  of  curiosity  respecting  the 
Admiral's  early  life  was  sufficient  to  account  for  so  much  reti 
cence  respecting  that  formative  period.  It  has  been,  accord 
ingly,  sometimes  suspected  that  a  desire  to  ignore  the  family's 
early  insignificance  rather  than  ignorance  had  most  to  do  with 
this  absence  of  information.  This  seems  to  be  Irving's  infer 
ence  from  the  facts. 

In  1871,  Henry  Harrisse,  who  in  1866  had  written  of  the 
Attacked  by  book,  "  It  is  generally  accepted  with  some  latitude," 

made  the  first  assault  on  its  integrity,  in  his   Fer- 


BIOGRAPHERS.  45 

nando  Colon,  published  in  Seville,  in  Spanish,  which  was  fol 
lowed  the  next  year  by  his  Fernand  Colomb,  in  the  original 
French  text  as  it  had  been  written,  and  published  at  Paris. 
Harrisse's  view  was  reenforced  in  the  Additions  to  his  Biblio- 
tJieca  Americana  Vetustissima,  and  he  again  reverted  to  the 
subject  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Christophe  Colomb,  in  1884. 
In  the  interim  the  entire  text  of  Las  Casas's  Historia  had  been 
published  for  the  first  time,  rendering  a  comparison  of  the  two 
books  more  easy.  Harrisse  availed  himself  of  this  facility  of 
examination,  and  made  no  abatement  of  his  confident  disbe 
lief.  That  Las  Casas  borrowed  from  the  Historic,  or  rather  that 
the  two  books  had  a  common  source,  Harrisse  thinks  satisfac 
torily  shown.  He  further  throws  out  the  hint  that  this  source, 
or  prototype,  may  have  been  one  of  the  lost  essays  of  Ferdi 
nand,  in  which  he  had  followed  the  career  of  his  father ;  or  in 
deed,  in  some  way,  the  account  written  by  Oliva  may  have 
formed  the  basis  of  the  book.  He  further  implies  that,  in  the 
transformation  to  the  Italian  edition  of  1571,  there  were  en 
grafted  upon  the  narrative  many  contradictions  and  anachron 
isms,  which  seriously  impair  its  value.  Hence,  as  he  contends, 
it  is  a  shame  to  impose  its  authorship  in  that  foreign  shape 
upon  Ferdinand.  He  also  denies  in  the  main  the  story  of  its 
transmission  as  told  by  Spotorno. 

So  much  of  this  book  as  is  authentic,  and  may  be  found  to  be 
corroborated  by  other  evidence,  may  very  likely  be  due  to  the 
manuscript  of  Oliva,  transported  to  Italy,  and  used  as  the 
work  of  Ferdinand  Columbus,  to  give  it  larger  interest  than 
the  name  of  Oliva  would  carry  ;  while,  to  gratify  prejudices  and 
increase  its  attractions,  the  various  interpolations  were  made, 
which  Harrisse  thinks  —  and  with  much  reason  —  could  not 
have  proceeded  from  one  so  near  to  Columbus,  so  well  informed, 
and  so  kindly  in  disposition  as  we  know  his  son  Ferdinand 
to  have  been. 

So  iconoclastic  an  outburst  was  sure  to  elicit  vindicators  of 
the  world's  faith  as  it  had  long  been  held.  In  counter  publica 
tions,  Harrisse  and  D'Avezac,  the  latter  an  eminent  French  au 
thority  on  questions  of  this  period,  fought  out  their  battle,  not 
without  some  sharpness.  Henry  Stevens,  an  old  an-  Defended  b 
tagonist  of  Harrisse,  assailed  the  new  views  with  his  Stevens  and 
accustomed  confidence  and  rasping  assertion.  Oscar 


46  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Peschel,  the  German  historian,  and  Count  Circourt,  the  French 
student,  gave  their  opposing  opinions ;  and  the  issue  has  been 
joined  by  others,  particularly  within  a  few  years  by  Prospero 
Peragallo,  the  pastor  of  an  Italian  church  in  Lisbon,  who 
has  pressed  defensive  views  with  some  force  in  his  ISAuten- 
ticitd  delle  Historie  di  Fernando  Colombo  (1884),  and  later 
in  his  Cristoforo  Colombo  et  sua  Famiglia  (1888).  It  is 
held  by  some  of  these  later  advocates  of  the  book  that  parts 
of  the  original  Spanish  text  can  be  identified  in  Las  Casas. 
The  controversy  has  thus  had  two  stages.  The  first  was  marked 
by  the  strenuousness  of  D'Avezac  fifteen  years  ago.  The  sec 
ond  sprang  from  the  renewed  propositions  of  Harrisse  in  his 
Christophe  Colomb,  ten  years  later.  Sundry  critics  have 
summed  up  the  opposing  arguments  with  more  or  less  tendency 
to  oppose  the  iconoclast,  and  chief  among  them  are  two  Ger 
man  scholars :  Professor  Max  Biidinger,  in  his  Acten  zur  Co 
lumbus1  Geschichte  (Wien,  1886),  and  his  Zur  Columbus  Lit- 
eratur  (Wien,  1889)  ;  and  Professor  Eugen  Gelcich,  in  the 
ZeitscJirift  der  Gesellschaft  fur  Erdkunde  zu  Berlin  (1887). 
Harrisse's  views  cannot  be  said  to  have  conquered  a  position  ; 
but  his  own  scrutiny  and  that  which  he  has  engendered  in 
others  have  done  good  work  in  keeping  the  Historie  constantly 
subject  to  critical  caution.  Dr.  Shea  still  says  of  it:  "It  is 
based  on  the  same  documents  of  Christopher  Columbus  which 
Las  Casas  used.  It  is  a  work  of  authority." 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  tardy  publication  of 
the  narrative  of  Las  Casas.    Columbus  had  been  dead 

Las  Casas. 

something  over  twenty  years,  when  this  good  man  set 
about  the  task  of  describing  in  this  work  what  he  had  seen  and 
heard  respecting  the  New  World,  —  or  at  least  this  is  the  gen 
erally  accredited  interval,  making  him  begin  the  work  in  1527  ; 
and  yet  it  is  best  to  remember  that  Helps  could  not  find  any 
positive  evidence  of  his  being  at  work  on  the  manuscript  be 
fore  1552.  Las  Casas  did  not  live  to  finish  the  task,  though  he 
labored  upon  it  down  to  1561,  when  he  was  eighty-seven  years 
old.  He  died  five  years  later.  Irving,  who  made  great  use  of 
Las  Casas,  professed  to  consult  him  with  that  caution  which 
he  deemed  necessary  in  respect  to  a  writer  given  to  prejudice 
and  overheated  zeal.  For  the  period  of  Columbus's  public  life 


BIOGRAPHERS.  47 

(1492-1506),  no  other  one  of  his  contemporaries  gives  us  so 
much  of  documentary  proof.  Of  the  thirty-one  papers,  falling 
within  this  interval,  which  he  transcribed  into  his  pages  nearly 
in  their  entirety,  —  throwing  out  some  preserved  in  the  archives 
of  the  Duke  of  Veragua,  and  others  found  at  Simancas  or  Sev 
ille,  —  there  remain  seventeen,  that  would  be  lost  to  us  but  for 
this  faithful  chronicler.  How  did  he  command  this  rich  re 
source  ?  As  a  native  of  Seville,  Las  Casas  had  come  there  to 
be  consecrated  as  bishop  in  1544,  and  again  in  1547,  after  he 
had  quitted  the  New  World  forever.  At  this  time  the  family 
papers  of  Columbus,  then  held  for  Luis  Colon,  a  minor,  were 
locked  up  in  a  strong  box  in  the  custody  of  the  monks  of  the 
neighboring  monastery  of  Las  Cuevas.  There  is  no  evidence, 
however,  that  the  chest  was  opened  for  the  inspection  of  the 
chronicler.  He  also  professes  to  use  original  letters  sent  by 
Columbus  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  which  he  must  have  found 
in  the  archives  at  Valladolid  before  1545,  or  at  Simancas  after 
that  date.  Again  he  speaks  of  citing  as  in  his  own  collection 
attested  copies  of  some  of  Columbus's  letters. 

In  1550,  and  during  his  later  years,  Las  Casas  lived  in  the 
monastery  of  San  Gregorio,  at  Valladolid,  leaving  it  only  for 
visits  to  Toledo  or  Madrid,  unless  it  was  for  briefer  visits  to 
Simancas,  not  far  off.  Some  of  the  documents,  which  he  might 
have  found  in  that  repository,  are  not  at  present  in  those 
archives.  It  was  there  that  he  might  have  found  numerous  let 
ters  which  he  cites,  but  which  are  not  otherwise  known.  From 
the  use  Las  Casas  makes  of  them,  it  would  seem  that  they 
were  of  more  importance  in  showing  the  discontent  and 
querulousness  of  Columbus  than  as  adding  to  details  of  his 
career.  Again  it  appears  clear  that  Las  Casas  got  documents 
in  some  way  from  the  royal  archives.  We  know  the  journal  of 
Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  only  from  the  abridgment  which 
Las  Casas  made  of  it,  and  much  the  same  is  true  of  the  record 
of  his  third  voyage. 

In  some  portion,  at  least,  of  his  citations  from  the  letters  of 
Columbus,  there  may  be  reason  to  think  that  Las  Casas  took 
them  at  second  hand,  and  Harrisse,  with  his  belief  in  the  deriv 
ative  character  of  the  Historie  of  Ferdinand  Columbus,  very 
easily  conjectures  that  this  primal  source  may  have  been  the 
manuscript  upon  which  the  compiler  of  the  Historie  was  equally 


48 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


dependent.  One  kind  of  reasoning  which  Harrisse  uses  is  this : 
If  Las  Casas  had  used  the  original  Latin  of  the  correspondence 
with  Toscanelli,  instead  of  the  text  of  this  supposed  Spanish 


LAS   CASAS. 


prototype,  it  would  not  appear  in  so  bad  a  state  as  it  does  in  Las 
Casas's  book. 

If  this  missing  prototype  of  the  Historie  was  among  Ferdi 
nand's  books  in  his  library,  which  had  been  removed  from  his 


BIOGRAPHERS.  49 

house  in  1544  to  the  convent  of  San  Pablo  in  Seville,  and  was 
not  removed  to  the  cathedral  till  1552,  it  may  also  have  hap 
pened  that  along  with  it  he  used  there  the  De  Imagine  Mundi 
of  Pierre  d'Ailly,  Columbus's  own  copy  of  which  was,  and  still 
is,  preserved  in  the  Biblioteca  Colombina,  and  shows  the  Ad 
miral's  own  manuscript  annotations. 

It  was  in  the  chapel  of  San  Pablo  that  Las  Casas  had  beer 
consecrated  as  bishop  in  1544,  and  his  associations  with  the 
monks  could  have  given  easy  access  to  what  they  held  in  cus 
tody,  —  too  easy,  perhaps,  if  Harrisse's  supposition  is  correct, 
that  they  let  him  take  away  the  map  which  Toscanelli  sent  to 
Columbus,  and  which  would  account  for  its  not  being  in  the 
library  now. 

We  know,  also,  that  Las  Casas  had  use  of  the  famous  letter 
respecting  his  third  voyage,  which   the  Admiral  ad-  HisoPpor- 
dressed  to  the  nurse  of  the  Infant  Don  Juan,  and  tunities- 
which  was  first  laid   before   modern    students  when  Spotorno 
printed  it,  in  1823.    We  further  understand  that  the  account  of 
the  fourth  voyage,  which  students  now  call,  in  its  Italian  form, 
the  Lettera  Rarissima,  was  also  at  his  disposal,  as  were  many 
letters  of  Bartholomew,  the  brother  of  Columbus,  though  they 
apparently  only  elucidate  the  African  voyage  of  Diaz. 

In  addition  to  these  manuscript  sources,  Las  Casas  shows 
that,  as  a  student,  he  was  familiar  with  and  appreciated  the 
decades  of  Peter  Martyr,  and  had  read  the  accounts  of  Colum 
bus  in  Garcia  de  Resende,  Barros,  and  Castaneda,  —  to  say 
nothing  of  what  he  may  have  derived  from  the  supposable  pro 
totype  of  the  Historic.  It  is  certain  that  his  personal  acquaint 
ance  brought  him  into  relations  with  the  Admiral  himself,  —  for 
he  accompanied  him  on  his  fourth  voyage,  —  with  the  Admiral's 
brother,  son,  and  son's  wife ;  and  moreover  his  own  father  and 
uncle  had  sailed  with  Columbus.  There  were,  among  his  other 
acquaintances,  the  Archbishop  of  Seville,  Pinzon,  and  other 
of  the  contemporary  navigators.  It  has  been  claimed  by  some, 
not  accurately,  we  suspect,  that  Las  Casas  had  also  accom 
panied  Columbus  on  his  third  voyage.  Notwithstanding  all 
these  opportunities  of  acquiring  a  thorough  intimacy  with  the 
story  of  Columbus,  it  is  contended  by  Harrisse  that  the  aid  af 
forded  by  Las  Casas  disappoints  one ;  and  that  all  essential 
data  with  which  his  narrative  is  supplied  can  be  found  else- 


50  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

where,  nearer  the  primal  source.  This  condition  arises,  as  he 
Character  of  thinks,  from  the  fact  that  the  one  engrossing  purpose 
his  writings.  o£  Las  (jasas — hjs  a{m  to  emancipate  the  Indians  from 
a  cruel  domination  —  constantly  stood  in  the  way  of  a  critical 
consideration  of  the  other  aspects  of  the  early  Spanish  contact 
with  the  New  World.  It  was  while  at  the  University  of  Sala 
manca  that  the  father  of  Las  Casas  gave  the  son  an  Indian 
slave,  one  of  those  whom  Columbus  had  sent  home ;  and  it  was 
taken  from  the  young  student  when  Isabella  decreed  the  undo 
ing  of  Columbus's  kidnapping  exploits.  It  was  this  event 
which  set  Las  Casas  to  thinking  on  the  miseries  of  the  poor 
natives,  which  Columbus  had  planned,  and  which  enables  us  to 
discover,  in  the  example  of  Las  Casas,  that  the  customs  of  the 
time  are  not  altogether  an  unanswerable  defense  of  the  time's 
inhumanity  and  greed. 

As  is  well  known,  all  but  the  most  recent  writers  on  Spanish- 
American  history  have  been  forced  to  use  this  work  of  Las 
Casas  in  manuscript  copies,  as  a  license  to  print  such  an  expo 
sure  of  Spanish  cruelty  could  not  be  obtained  till  1875,  when 
the  Historia  was  first  printed  at  Madrid. 

Herrera,  so  far  as  his  record  concerns  Columbus,  simply  gives 
us  what  he  takes  from  Las  Casas.  He  was  born  about 
the  time  that  the  older  writer  was  probably  making 
his  investigations.  Herrera  did  not  publish  his  results,  which 
are  slavishly  chronological  in  their  method,  till  half  a  century 
later  (1601-15).  Though  then  the  official  historiographer  of  the 
Indies,  with  all  the  chances  for  close  investigation  which  that 
situation  afforded  him,  Herrera  failed  in  all  ways  to  make  the 
record  of  his  Historia  that  comprehensive  and  genuine  source 
of  the  story  of  Columbus  which  the  reader  might  naturally  look 
for.  The  continued  obscuration  of  Las  Casas  by  reason  of  the 
long  delay  in  printing  his  manuscript  served  to  give  Herrera, 
through  many  generations,  a  prominence  as  an  authoritative 
source  which  he  could  not  otherwise  have  had.  Irving,  when 
he  worked  at  the  subject,  soon  discovered  that  Las  Casas  stood 
behind  the  story  as  Herrera  told  it,  and  accordingly  the  Ameri 
can  writer  resorted  by  preference  to  such  a  copy  of  the  manu 
script  of  Las  Casas  as  he  could  get.  There  is  a  manifest 
tendency  in  Herrera  to  turn  Las  Casas's  qualified  statements 
into  absolute  ones. 


BIOGRAPHERS.  51 

The  personal  contributions  of  the  later  writers,  Munoz  and 
Navarre te,  have  been  already  considered,  in  speaking  j^,  Span. 
of  the  diversified  mass  of  documentary  proofs  which   lshwriters- 
accompany  or  gave  rise  to  their  narratives. 

The  Colon  en  Espana  of  Tornas  Rodriguez  Pinilla  (Madrid, 
1884)  is  in  effect  a  life  of  the  Admiral ;  but  it  ignores  much  of 
the  recent  critical  and  controversial  literature,  and  deals  mainly 
with  the  old  established  outline  of  events. 

Among  the  Germans  there  was  nothing  published  of  any  im 
portance  till  the  critical  studies  of  Forster,  Peschel,  German 
and  Huge,  in  recent  days.  De  Bry  had,  indeed,  by  writers- 
his  translations  of  Benzoni  (1594)  and  Herrera  (1623),  famil 
iarized  the  Germans  with  the  main  facts  of  the  career  of  Colum 
bus.  During  the  present  century,  Humboldt,  in  his 
Examen  Critique  de  VHistoire  et  de  la  GeograpJiie  du 
Nouveau  Continent,  has  borrowed  the  language  of  France  to 
show  the  scope  of  his  critical  and  learned  inquiries  into  the 
early  history  of  the  Spanish  contact  in  America,  and  has  left  it 
to  another  hand  to  give  a  German  rendering  to  his  labors. 
With  this  work  by  Humboldt,  brought  out  in  its  completer 
shape  in  1836-39,  and  using  most  happily  all  that  had  been 
done  by  Munoz  and  Navarrete  to  make  clear  both  the  acts  and 
environments  of  the  Admiral,  the  intelligence  of  our  own  time 
may  indeed  be  said  to  have  first  clearly  apprehended,  under  the 
light  of  a  critical  spirit,  in  which  Irving  was  deficient,  the  true 
significance  of  the  great  deeds  that  gave  America  to  Europe. 
Humboldt  has  strikingly  grouped  the  lives  of  Toscanelli  and 
Las  Casas,  from  the  birth  of  the  Florentine  physician  in  1397 
to  the  death  of  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians  in  1566,  as  covering 
the  beginning  and  end  of  the  great  discoveries  of  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries. 

It  is  also  to  be  remarked  that  this  service  of  broadly,  and  at 
the  same  time  critically,  surveying  the  field  was  the  work  of 
a  German  writing  in  French ;  while  it  is  to  an  American  citi 
zen  writing  in  French  that  we  owe,  in  more  recent  years,  such  a 
minute  collation  and  examination  of  every  original  source  of 
information  as  set  the  labors  of  Henry  Harrisse,  for  Henry 
thoroughness  and  discrimination,  in  advance  of   any  Harnsse- 
critical  labor  that  has  ever  before  been  given  to  the  career  and 


52  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

character  of  Christopher  Columbus.  Without  the  aid  of  his 
researches,  as  embodied  in  his  Ohristophe  Colomb  (Paris, 
1884),  it  would  have  been  quite  impossible  for  the  present 
writer  to  have  reached  conclusions  on  a  good  many  mooted 
points  in  the  history  of  the  Admiral  and  of  his  reputation.  Of 
almost  equal  usefulness  have  been  the  various  subsidiary  books 
and  tracts  which  Harrisse  has  devoted  to  similar  fields. 

Harrisse's  books  constitute  a  good  example  of  the  constant 
change  of  opinion  and  revision  of  the  relations  of  facts  which 
are  going  on  incessantly  in  the  mind  of  a  vigilant  student  in 
recondite  fields  of  research.  The  progress  of  the  correction  of 
error  respecting  Columbus  is  illustrated  continually  in  his  se 
ries  of  books  on  the  great  navigator,  beginning  with  the  Notes 
on  Columbus  (N.  Y.,  1866),  which  have  been  intermittently 
published  by  him  during  the  last  twenty-five  years. 

Harrisse  himself  is  a  good  deal  addicted  to  hypotheses  ;  but 
they  fare  hard  at  his  hands  if  advanced  by  others. 

The  only  other  significant  essays  which  have  been  made  in 
French  French  have  been  a  series  of  biographies  of  Colum 
bus,  emphasizing  his  missionary  spirit,  which  have 
been  aimed  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  canonization  of  the 
Attempted  great  navigator,  in  recognition  of  his  instrumentality 
ScSum-°n  in  carrying  the  cross  to  the  New  World.  That,  in 
the  spirit  which  characterized  the  age  of  discovery, 
the  voyage  of  Columbus  was,  at  least  in  profession,  held  to  be 
one  conducted  primarily  for  that  end  does  not,  certainly,  admit 
of  dispute.  Columbus  himself,  in  his  letter  to  Sanchez,  speaks 
of  the  rejoicing  of  Christ  at  seeing  the  future  redemption  of 
souls.  He  made  a  first  offering  of  the  foreign  gold  by  convert 
ing  a  mass  of  it  into  a  cup  to  hold  the  sacred  host,  and  he  spent 
a  wordy  enthusiasm  in  promises  of  a  new  crusade  to  wrest  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  Moslems.  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
dwelt  upon  the  propagandist  spirit  of  the  enterprise,  they  had 
sanctioned,  in  their  appeals  to  the  Pontiff  to  confirm  their 
worldly  gain  in  its  results.  Ferdinand,  the  son  of  the  Admiral, 
referring  to  the  family  name  of  Colombo,  speaks  of  his  father 
as  like  Noah's  dove,  carrying  the  olive  branch  and  oil  of  bap 
tism  over  the  ocean.  Professions,  however,  were  easy ;  faith  is 
always  exuberant  under  success,  and  the  world,  and  even  the 
Catholic  world,  learned,  as  the  ages  went  on,  to  look  upon  the 


BIOGRAPHERS, 


53 


spirit  that  put  the  poor  heathen  beyond  the  pale  of  humanity 
as  not  particularly  sanctifying  a  pioneer  of  devastation.     It  is 
the  world's  misfortune  when  a  great  opportunity  loses  any  of 
its  dignity ;  and  it  is  110  great  satisfaction  to  look  upon  a  per 
son  of  Columbus's  environments  and  find  him  but  a  creature  of 
questionable  grace.     So  his  canonization  has  not,  with  all  the 
endeavors  which  have  been  made,  been  brought  about.      The 
/most  conspicuous  of  the  advocates  of  it,  with  a  crowd  Rosell  de 
of  imitators  about  him,  has   been  Antoine  Francois  Lorsues- 
Felix  Valalette,  Comte  Roselly  de  Lorgues,  who  began  in  1844 


ROSELLY  DE  LORGUES. 


to  devote  his  energies  to  this  end.  He  has  published  several 
books  on  Columbus,  part  of  them  biographical,  and  all  of  them, 
including  his  Christoph  Colomb  of  1864,  mere  disguised  sup 
plications  to  the  Pope  to  order  a  deserved  sanctification.  As 
contributions  to  the  historical  study  of  the  life  of  Columbus, 
they  are  of  no  importance  whatever.  Every  act  and  saying 
of  the  Admiral  capable  of  subserving  the  purpose  in  view  are 


54  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

simply  made  the  salient  points  of  a  career  assumed  to  be  holy. 
Columbus  was  in  fact  of  a  piece,  in  this  respect,  with  the  age  in 
which  he  lived.  The  official  and  officious  religious  profession 
of  the  time  belonged  to  a  period  which  invented  the  Inquisition 
and  extirpated  a  race  in  order  to  send  them  to  heaven.  None 
knew  this  better  than  those,  like  Las  Casas,  who  mated  their 
faith  with  charity  of  act.  Columbus  and  Las  Casas  had  little 
in  common. 

The  Histoire  Posthume  de  Colomb,  which  Eoselly  de  Lor- 
gues  finally  published  in  1885,  is  recognized  even  by  Catholic 
writers  as  a  work  of  great  violence  and  indiscretion,  in  its 
denunciations  of  all  who  fail  to  see  the  saintly  character  of 
Columbus.  Its  inordinate  intemperance  gave  a  great  advan 
tage  to  C^sareo  Fernandez  Duro  in  his  examination  of  De  Lor- 
gues's  position,  made  in  his  Colon  y  la  Historia  Postuma. 

Columbus  was  certainly  a  mundane  verity.  De  Lorgues 
tells  us  that  if  we  cannot  believe  in  the  supernatural  we  cannot 
understand  this  worldly  man.  The  writers  who  have  followed 
him,  like  Charles  Buet  in  his  ChristopTie  Colomb  (Paris, 
1886),  have  taken  this  position.  The  Catholic  body  has  so  far 
summoned  enough  advocates  of  historic  truth  to  prevent  the  re 
sult  which  these  enthusiasts  have  kept  in  view,  notwithstanding 
the  seeming  acquiescence  of  Pius  IX.  The  most  popular  of  the 
idealizing  lives  of  Columbus  is  probably  that  by  Auguste,  Mar 
quis  de  Belloy,  which  is  tricked  out  with  a  display  of  engrav 
ings  as  idealized  as  the  text,  and  has  been  reproduced  in  Eng 
lish  at  Philadelphia  (1878,  1889).  It  is  simply  an  ordinary 
rendering  of  the  common  and  conventional  stories  of  the  last 
four  centuries.  The  most  eminent  Catholic  historical  student 
of  the  United  States,  Dr.  John  Gilmary  Shea,  in  a  paper  on 
this  century's  estimates  of  Columbus,  in  the  American  Catholic 
Quarterly  Review  (1887),  while  referring  to  the  "  imposing 
array  of  members  of  the  hierarchy"  who  have  urged  the  beat 
ification  of  Columbus,  added,  "  But  calm  official  scrutiny  of 
the  question  was  required  before  permission  could  be  given  to 
introduce  the  cause ; "  and  this  permission  has  not  yet  been 
given,  and  the  evidence  in  its  favor  has  not  yet  been  officially 
produced. 

France  has  taken  the  lead  in  these  movements  for  canoniza 
tion,  ostensibly  for  the  reason,  that  she  needed  to  make  some 


BIOGRAPHERS.  55 

reparation  for  snatching  the  honor  of  naming  the  New  World 
from  Columbus,  through  the  printing-presses  of  Saint  Die  and 
Strassburg!  A  sketch  of  the  literature  which  has  followed  this 
movement  is  given  in  Baron  van  Brocken's  Des  Vicissitudes 
Posthumes  de  Christophe  Colomb,  et  de  sa  Beatification  Pos 
sible  (Leipzig  et  Paris,  1865). 

Of  the  writers  in  English,  the  labors  of  Hakluyt  and  Pur- 
chas  only  incidentally  touched  the  career  of  Colum-  English 
bus ;  and  it  was  not  till  Stevens  issued  his  garbled  writers- 
version  of  Herrera  in  1725,  that  the  English  public  got  the  rec 
ord  of  the  Spanish  historian,  garnished  with  something  that  did 
not  represent  the  original.  This  book  of  Stevens  is  responsible 
for  not  a  little  in  English  opinion  respecting  the  Spanish  age 
of  discovery,  which  needs  in  these  later  days  to  be  qualified. 
Some  of  the  early  collections  of  voyages,  like  those  of  Churchill, 
Pinkerton,  and  Kerr,  included  the  story  of  the  Historic 
of  1571.  It  was  not  till  Robertson,  in  1777,  published  * 
the  beginning  of  a  contemplated  History  of  America  that  the 
English  reader  had  for  the  first  time  a  scholarly  and  justified 
narrative,  which  indeed  for  a  long  time  remained  the  ordinary 
source  of  the  English  view  of  Columbus.  It  was,  however,  but 
an  outline  sketch,  not  a  sixth  or  seventh  part  in  extent  of  what 
Irving,  when  he  was  considering  the  subject,  thought  necessary 
for  a  reasonable  presentation  of  the  subject.  Robertson's  foot 
notes  show  that  his  main  dependence  for  the  story  of  Colum 
bus  was  upon  the  pages  of  the  Historic  of  1571,  Peter  Mar 
tyr,  Oviedo,  and  Herrera.  He  was  debarred  the  help  to  be 
derived  from  what  we  now  use,  as  conveying  Columbus's-  own 
record  of  his  story.  Lord  Grantham,  then  the  British  ambas 
sador  at  Madrid,  did  all  the  service  he  could,  and  his  secretary 
of  legation  worked  asssiduously  in  complying  with  the  wishes 
which  Robertson  preferred;  but  no  solicitation  could  at  that 
day  render  easily  accessible  the  archives  at  Simancas.  Still, 
Robertson  got  from  one  source  or  another  more  than  it  was 
pleasant  to  the  Spanish  authorities  to  see  in  print,  and  they 
later  contrived  to  prevent  a  publication  of  his  work  in  Spanish. 

The  earliest  considerable  recounting  of  the  story  of  Colum 
bus  in  America  was  by  Dr.  Jeremy  Belknap,  who,  Jeremy 
having  delivered  a  commemorative  discourse  in  Bos-  BeUmaP- 


56  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ton  in  1792,  before  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  after 
ward  augmented  his  text  when  it  became  a  part  of  his  well- 
known  American  Biography,  a  work  of  respectable  standing 
for  the  time,  but  little  remembered  to-day. 

It  was  in  1827  that  Washington  Irving  published  his  Life 
Washington  °f  Columbus,  and  he  produced  a  book  that  has  long 
Irving.  remained  for  the  English  reader  a  standard  biography  c 
Irving's  canons  of  historical  criticism  were  not,  however,  such 
as  the  fearless  and  discriminating  student  to-day  would  ap 
prove.  He  commended  Herrera  for  "  the  amiable  and  pardon 
able  error  of  softening  excesses,"  as  if  a  historian  sat  in  a  con 
fessional  to  deal  out  exculpations.  The  learning  which  probes 
long  established  pretenses  and  grateful  deceits  was  not  accep 
table  to  Irving.  "  There  is  a  certain  meddlesome  spirit,"  he 
says,  "  which,  in  the  garb  of  learned  research,  goes  prying  about 
the  traces  of  history,  casting  down  its  monuments,  and  marring 
and  mutilating  its  fairest  trophies.  Care  should  be  taken  to 
vindicate  great  names  from  such  pernicious  erudition." 

Under  such  conditions  as  Irving  summoned,  there  was  little 
chance  that  a  world's  exemplar  would  be  pushed  from  his  ped 
estal,  no  matter  what  the  evidence.  The  vera  pro  gratis  in 
personal  characterization  must  not  assail  the  traditional  hero. 
And  such  was  Irving's  notion  of  the  upright  intelligence  of  a 
historian. 

Mr.  Alexander  H.  Everett,  who  was  then  the  minister  of  the 
United  States  at  Madrid,  saw  a  chance  of  making  a  readable 
book  out  of  the  journal  of  Columbus  as  preserved  by  Las  Casas, 
and  recommended  the  task  of  translating  it  to  Irving,  then  in 
Europe.  This  proposition  carried  the  willing  writer  to  Madrid, 
where  he  found  comfortable  quarters,  with  quick  sympathy  of 
intercourse,  under  the  roof  of  a  Boston  scholar  then  living 
there,  Obadiah  Rich.  The  first  two  volumes  of  the  documen 
tary  work  of  Navarrete  coming  out  opportunely,  Irving  was  not 
long  in  determining  that,  with  its  wealth  of  material,  there  was 
a  better  opportunity  for  a  newly  studied  life  of  Columbus  than 
for  the  proposed  task.  So  Irving  settled  down  in  Madrid  to 
the  larger  endeavor,  and  soon  found  that  he  could  have  other 
assistance  and  encouragement  from  Navarrete  himself,  from  the 
Duke  of  Veragua,  and  from  the  then  possessor  of  the  papers 
of  Munoz.  The  subject  grew  under  his  hands.  "  I  had  no 


BIOGRAPHERS.  57 

idea,"  he  says,  "  of  what  a  complete  labyrinth  I  had  entangled 
myself  in."  He  regretted  that  the  third  volume  of  Navarrete's 
book  was  not  far  enough  advanced  to  be  serviceable ;  but  he 
worked  as  best  he  could,  and  found  many  more  facilities  than 
Robertson's  helper  had  discovered.  He  went  to  the  Biblioteca 
Colombina,  and  he  even  brought  the  annotations  of  Columbus 
in  the  copy  of  Pierre  d'Ailly,  there  preserved,  to  the  attention 
of  its  custodians  for  the  first  time ;  almost  feeling  himself  the 
discoverer  of  the  book,  though  it  was  known  to  him  that  Las 
Casas,  at  least,  had  had  the  advantage  of  using  these  minutes  of 
Columbus.  Irving  knew  that  his  pains  were  not  unavailing,  at 
any  rate,  for  the  English  reader.  "  I  have  woven  into  my 
book,"  he  says,  "  many  curious  particulars,  not  hitherto  known 
concerning  Columbus ;  and  I  think  I  have  thrown  light  upon 
some  points  of  his  character  which  have  not  been  brought  out 
by  his  former  biographers."  One  of  the  things  that  pleased 
the  new  biographer  most  was  his  discovery,  as  he  felt,  in  the 
account  by  Bernaldez,  that  Columbus  was  born  ten  years  earlier 
than  had  been  usually  reckoned;  and  he  supposed  that  this 
increase  of  the  age  of  the  discoverer  at  the  time  of  his  voyage 
added  much  greater  force  to  the  characteristics  of  his  career. 
Irving's  book  readily  made  a  mark.  Jeffrey  thought  that  its 
fame  would  be  enduring,  and  at  a  time  when  no  one  looked 
for  new  light  from  Italy,  he  considered  that  Irving  had  done 
best  in  working,  almost  exclusively,  the  Spanish  field,  where 
alone  "  it  was  obvious  "  material  could  be  found. 

When  Alexander  H.  Everett,  pardonably,  as  a  godfather  to 
the  work,  undertook  in  January,  1829,  to  say  in  the  North 
American  Review  that  Irving's  book  was  a  delight  of  readers, 
he  anticipated  the  judgment  of  posterity;  but  when  he  added 
that  it  was,  by  its  perfection,  the  despair  of  critics,  he  was  for 
getful  of  a  method  of  critical  research  that  is  not  prone  to  be 
dazed  by  the  prestige  of  demigods. 

In  the  interval  between  the  first  and  second  editions  of  the 
book,  Irving  paid  a  visit  to  Palos  and  the  convent  of  La  Ra- 
bida,  and  he  got  elsewhere  some  new  light  in  the  papers  of  the 
lawsuit  of  Columbus's  heirs.  The  new  edition  which  soon  fol 
lowed  profited  by  all  these  circumstances. 

Irving's  occupation  of  the  field  rendered  it  both  easy  and 
gracious  for  Prescott,  when,  ten  years  later  (1837),  he  published 


58  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

his  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  to  say  that  his  predecessor  had 
stripped  the  story  of  Columbus  of  the  charm  of  novel- 

Prescott.  rf        , 

ty  ;  but  he  was  not  quite  sure,  however,  in  the  privacy 
of  his  correspondence,  that  Irving,  by  attempting  to  continue  the 
course  of  Columbus's  life  in  detail  after  the  striking  crisis  of  the 
discovery,  had  made  so  imposing  a  drama  as  he  would  have 
done  by  condensing  the  story  of  his  later  years.  In  this  Pres- 
cott  shared  something  of  the  spirit  of  Irving,  in  composing  his 
tory  to  be  read  as  a  pastime,  rather  than  as  a  study  of  com 
pleted  truth.  Prescott's  own  treatment  of  the  subject  is  scant, 
as  he  confined  his  detailed  record  to  the  actions  incident  to  the 
inception  and  perfection  of  the  enterprise  of  the  Admiral,  to 
the  doings  in  Spain  or  at  court.  He  was,  at  the  same  time, 
far  more  independent  than  Irving  had  been,  in  his  views  of  the 
individual  character  round  which  so  much  revolves,  and  the 
reader  is  not  wholly  blinded  to  the  unwholesome  deceit  and 
overweening  selfishness  of  Columbus. 

Within  twenty  years  Arthur  Helps  approached  the  subject 
Arthur  from  the  point  of  view  of  one  who  was  determined,  as 
Helps.  jae  thought  no  Olie  Of  the  writers  on  the  subject  of  the 
Spanish  Conquest  had  been,  to  trace  the  origin  of,  and  respon 
sibility  for,  the  devastating  methods  of  Spanish  colonial  gov 
ernment  ;  "  not  conquest  only,  but  the  result  of  conquest,  the 
mode  of  colonial  government  which  ultimately  prevailed,  the  ex 
tirpation  of  native  races,  the  introduction  of  other  races,  the 
growth  of  slavery,  and  the  settlement  of  the  encomiendas,  on 
which  all  Indian  society  depended."  It  is  not  to  Helps,  there 
fore,  that  we  are  to  look  for  any  extended  biography  of  Colum 
bus  ;  and  when  he  finds  him  in  chains,  sent  back  to  Spain,  he 
says  of  the  prisoner,  "  He  did  not  know  how  many  wretched 
beings  would  -have  to  traverse  those  seas,  in  bonds  much  worse 
than  his ;  nor  did  he  foresee,  I  trust,  that  some  of  his  doings 
would  further  all  this  coming  misery."  It  does  not  appear  from 
his  footnotes  that  Helps  depended  upon  other  than  the  obvious 
authorities,  though  he  says  that  he  examined  the  MuHoz  col 
lection,  then  as  now  in  the  Royal  Academy  of  History  at  Ma 
drid. 

The  last  scholarly  summary  of  Columbus's  career  previous  to 

B  H  Ma'or   *^e  views  incident  to  the  criticism  of  Harrisse  on  the 

Historie  of  1571  was  that  which  was  given  by  R.  H. 


BIOGRAPHERS.  59 

Major,  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Select  Letters  of  Columbus 
(London,  1870). 

There  have  been  two  treatments  of  the  subject  by  Americans 
within  the  last  twenty  years,  which  are  characteristic.  The 
Life  and  Achievements  of  the  So-called  Christopher  Colum 
bus  (New  York,  1874),  by  Aaron  Goodrich,  mixes  AaronGood- 
that  unreasoning  trust  and  querulous  conceit  which  is  nch- 
so  often  thrown  into  the  scale  when  the  merits  of  the  discover 
ers  of  the  alleged  Vinland  are  contrasted  with  those  of  the 

O 

imagined  Indies.  With  a  craze  of  petulancy,  he  is  not  able  to 
see  anything  that  cannot  be  twisted  into  defamation,  and  his 
book  is  as  absurdly  constant  in  derogation  as  the  hallucinations 
of  De  Lorgues  are  in  the  other  direction. 

When  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft  opened  the  story  of  his  Pacific 
States  in  his  History  of  Central  America  (San  Fran-  H  H  Ban_ 
cisco,  1882),  he  rehearsed  the  story  of  Columbus,  but  croft> 
did  not  attempt  to  follow  it  critically  sxcept  as  he  tracked  the 
Admiral  along  the  coasts  of  Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Costa 
Rica.  This  writer's  estimate  of  the  character  of  Columbus  con 
veys  a  representation  of  what  the  Admiral  really  was,  juster 
than  national  pride,  religious  sympathy,  or  kindly  adulation  has 
usually  permitted.  It  is  unfortunately,  not  altogether  chaste  in 
its  literary  presentation.  His  characterization  of  Irving  and 
Prescott  in  their  endeavors  to  draw  the  character  of  Columbus 
has  more  merit  in  its  insight  than  skill  in  its  drafting. 

The  brief  sketch  of  the  career  of  Columbus,  and  the  exami 
nation  of  the  events  that  culminated  in  his  maritime  risks  and 
developments,  as  it  was  included  in  the  Narrative  and  Critical 
History  of  America  (vol.   ii.,  Boston,   1885),  gave 
the  present  writer  an  opportunity  to  study  the  sources 
and  trace  the  bibliographical  threads  that  run  through  an  ex 
tended    and    diversified    literature,  in    a  way,  it   may  be,   not 
earlier  presented  to  the  English  reader.     If  any  one  desires 
to  compass  all  the   elucidations  and  guides  which  a 
thorough  student  of  the  career  and  fame  of  Columbus  raphy  of  Co- 
would  wish  to  consider,  the  apparatus  thus  referred  to, 
and  the    footnotes  in    Harrisse's    Christophe    Colomb  and  in 
his  other  germane  publications,  would  probably  most  essentially 
shorten  his  labors.     Harrisse,  who  has  prepared,  but  not  yet 


60  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

published,  lists  of  the  books  devoted  to  Columbus  exclusively, 
says  that  they  number  about  six  hundred  titles.  The  literature 
which  treats  of  him  incidentally  is  of  a  vast  extent. 

In  concluding  this  summary  of  the  commentaries  upon  the 
life  of  Columbus,  the  thought  comes  back  that  his 

Varied  esti-  .  .  &.  . 

mates  of  career  has  been  singularly  subject  to  the  gauging  of 
opinionated  chroniclers.  The  figure  of  the  man,  as  he 
lives  to-day  in  the  mind  of  the  general  reader,  in  whatever  coun 
try,  comports  in  the  main  with  the  characterizations  of  Irving,  De 
Lorgues,  or  Goodrich.  These  last  two  have  entered  upon  their 
works  with  a  determined  purpose,  the  Frenchman  of  making  a 
saint,  and  the  American  a  scamp,  of  the  great  discoverer  of 
America.  They  each,  in  their  twists,  pervert  and  emphasize 
every  trait  and  every  incident  to  favor  their  views.  Their  nar 
ratives  are  each  without  any  background  of  that  mixture  of  in 
congruity,  inconsistency,  and  fatality  from  which  no  human  be 
ing  is  wholly  free.  Their  books  are  absolutely  worthless  as 
historical  records.  That  of  Goodrich  has  probably  done  little 
to  make  proselytes.  That  of  De  Lorgues  has  infected  a  large 
body  of  tributary  devotees  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

The  work  of  Irving  is  much  above  any  such  level ;  but  it  has 
done  more  harm  because  its  charms  are  insidious.  He  recog 
nized  at  least  that  human  life  is  composite  ;  but  he  had  as  much 
of  a  predetermination  as  they,  and  his  purpose  was  to  create  a 
hero.  He  glorified  what  was  heroic,  palliated  what  was  un- 
heroic,  and  minimized  the  doubtful  aspects  of  Columbus's  char 
acter.  His  book  is,  therefore,  dangerously  seductive  to  the 
popular  sense.  The  genuine  Columbus  evaporates  under  the 
warmth  of  the  writer's  genius,  and  we  have  nothing  left  but  a 
refinement  of  his  clay.  The  Life  of  Columbus  was  a  sudden 
product  of  success,  and  it  has  kept  its  hold  on  the  public  very 
constantly ;  but  it  has  lost  ground  in  these  later  years  among 
scholarly  inquirers.  They  have,  by  their  collation  of  its  narra 
tive  with  the  original  sources,  discovered  its  flaccid  character. 
They  have  outgrown  the  witcheries  of  its  graceful  style.  They 
have  learned  to  put  at  their  value  the  repetitionary  changes  of 
stock  sentiment,  which  swell  the  body  of  the  text,  sometimes, 
provokingly. 


P  OR  TRA ITIS  TS.  61 

Out  of  the  variety  of  testimony  respecting  the  person  of  the 
adult  Columbus,  it  is  not  easy  to  draw  a  picture  that  portraitsof 
his  contemporaries  would  surely  recognize.  Likeness  Columbfts- 
we  have  none  that  can  be  proved  beyond  a  question  the  result 
of  any  sitting,  or  even  of  any  acquaintance.  If  we  were  called 
upon  to  picture  him  as  he  stood  on  San  Salvador,  we  might  fig 
ure  a  man  of  impressive  stature  with  lofty,  not  to  say 
austere,  bearing,  his  face  longer  by  something  more 
than  its  breadth,  his  cheek  bones  high,  his  nose  aquiline,  his 
eyes  a  light  gray,  his  complexion  fair  with  freckles  spotting  a 
ruddy  glow,  his  hair  once  light,  but  then  turned  to  gray.  His 
favorite  garb  seems  to  have  been  the  frock  of  a  Franciscan 
monk.  Such  a  figure  would  not  conflict  with  the  descriptions 
which  those  who  knew  him,  and  those  who  had  questioned  his 
associates,  have  transmitted  to  us,  as  we  read  them  in  the  pages 
ascribed  to  Ferdinand,  his  son  ;  in  those  of  the  Spanish  his 
torian,  Oviedo ;  of  the  priest  Las  Casas  ;  and  in  the  later  re 
citals  of  Gomara  and  Benzoni,  and  of  the  official  chronicler  of 
the  Spanish  Indies,  Antonio  Herrera.  The  oldest  description 
of  all  is  one  made  in  1501,  in  the  unauthorized  version  of  the 
first  decade  of  Peter  Martyr,  emanating,  very  likely,  from  the 
translator  Trivigiano,  who  had  then  recently  come  in  contact 
with  Columbus. 

Turning  from  these  descriptions   to  the   pictures  that  have 
been  put  forth  as  likenesses,  we  find  not  a  little  difficulty  in 
reconciling  the  two.     There  is  nothing  that  unmistakably  goes 
back  to  the   lifetime   of  Columbus   except   the   figure  of   St. 
Christopher,  which  makes  a  vignette  in  colors  on  the 
mappemonde,  which  was  drawn  in   1500,  by  one  of  st.  christo- 
Columbus's  pilots,  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  and  is  now  pre 
served  in  Madrid.     It  has  been  fondly  claimed  that  Cosa  trans 
ferred  the  features  of  his  master  to  the  lineaments  of  the  saint ; 
but  the  assertion  is  wholly  without  proof. 

Paolo  Giovio,  or,  as  better  known  in  the  Latin  form,  Paulus 
Jovius,  was  old  enough  in  1492  to  have,  in  later  life,  Joviu8>3  gai_ 
remembered  the  thrill  of  expectation  which  ran  for  lery> 
the  moment  through  parts  of  Europe,  when  the  letter  of  Co 
lumbus  describing  his  voyage  was  published  in  Italy,  where 
Jovius  was  then  a  schoolboy.  He  was  but  an  infant,  or  per 
haps  not  born  when  Columbus  left  Italy.  So  the  interest  of 


62  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


ST.   CHRISTOPHER. 
[The  vignette  of  La  Cosa's  man,! 


PORTRAITISTS. 


63 


Jovius  in  the  Discoverer  could  hardly  have  arisen  from  any 
other  associations  than  those  easily  suggestive  to  one  who,  like 
Jovius,  was  a  student  of  his  own  times.  Columbus  had  been 
dead  ten  years  when  Jovius,  as  a  historian,  attracted  the  notice 
of  Pope  Leo  X.,  and  entered  upon  such  a  career  of  prosperity 


JOVTUS'S  COLUMBUS,   THE  EARLIEST  ENGRAVED  LIKENESS. 

that  he  could  build  a  villa  on  Lake  Como,  and  adorn  it  with  a 
gallery  of  portraits  of  those  who  had  made  his  age  famous. 
That  he  included  a  likeness  of  Columbus  among  his  heroes 
there  seems  to  be  no  doubt.  Whether  the  likeness  was  painted 
from  life,  and  by  whom,  or  modeled  after  an  ideal,  more  or 
less  accordant  with  the  reports  of  those  who  may  have  known 
the  Genoese,  is  entirely  beyond  our  knowledge.  As  a  historian 


64  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Jovius  professed  the  right  to  distort  the  truth  for  any  purpose 
that  suited  him,  and  his  conceptions  of  the  truth  of  portraiture 
may  quite  as  well  have  been  equally  loose.  Just  a  year  before 
his  own  death,  Jovius  gave  a  sketch  of  Columbus's  career  in  his 
Elogia  Virorum  Illustrium,  published  at  Florence  in  1551 ; 
but  it  was  not  till  twenty-four  years  later,  in  1575,  that  a  new 
edition  of  the  book  gave  wood-cuts  of  the  portraits  in  the  gal 
lery  of  the  Como  villa,  to  illustrate  the  sketches,  and  that  of 
Columbus  appeared  among  them.  This  engraving,  then,  is  the 
oldest  likeness  of  Columbus  presenting  any  claims  to  considera 
tion.  It  found  place  also,  within  a  year  or  two,  in  what  pur. 
ported  to  be  a  collection  of  portraits  from  the  Jovian  gallery ; 
and  the  engraver  of  them  was  Tobias  Stimmer,  a  Swiss  designer, 
who  stands  in  the  biographical  dictionaries  of  artists  as  born  in 
1534,  and  of  course  could  not  have  assisted  his  skill  by  any 
knowledge  of  Columbus,  on  his  own  part.  This  picture,  to 
which  a  large  part  of  the  very  various  likenesses  called  those  of 
Columbus  can  be  traced,  is  done  in  the  bold,  easy  handling 
common  in  the  wood-cuts  of  that  day,  and  with  a  precision  of 
skill  that  might  well  make  one  believe  that  it  preserves  a  dash 
ing  verisimilitude  to  the  original  picture.  It  represents  a  full- 
face,  shaven,  curly-haired  man,  with  a  thoughtful  and  somewhat 
sad  countenance,  his  hands  gathering  about  the  waist  a  priest's 
robe,  of  which  the  hood  has  fallen  about  his  neck.  If  there  is 
any  picture  to  be  judged  authentic,  this  is  best  entitled  to  that 
estimation. 

Connection  with  the  Como  gallery  is  held  to  be  so  significant 
of  the  authenticity  of  any  portrait  of  Columbus  that  it  is  claimed 
for  two  other  pictures,  which  are  near  enough  alike  to  have  fol 
lowed  the  same  prototype,  and  which  are  not,  except  in  garb, 
very  unlike  the  Jovian  wood-cut.  As  copies  of  the  Como  origi 
nal  in  features,  they  may  easily  have  varied  in  apparel.  One 
of  these  is  a  picture  preserved  in  the  gallery  at  Florence,  —  a 
well-moulded,  intellectual  head,  full-faced,  above  a  closely  but 
toned  tunic,  or  frock,  seen  within  drapery  that  falls  off  the 
TheFior-  shoulders.  It  is  not  claimed  to  be  the  Como  portrait, 
ence picture.  ^ut  it  may  have  been  painted  from  it,  perhaps  by 
Christofano  dell'  Altissimo,  some  time  before  1568.  A  copy 
of  it  was  made  for  Thomas  Jefferson,  which,  having  hung  for  a 
while  at  Monticello,  came  at  last  to  Boston,  and  passed  into 
the  gallery  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


PORTRAITISTS.  65 

The  picture  resembling  this,  and  which  may  have  had  equal 
claims  of  association  with  the  Jovian  gallery,  is  one  now  pre- 


THE  FLORENCE  COLUMBUS. 


served  in  Madrid,  and  the  oldest  canvas  representing  Columbus 
that  is  known  in  Spain.     It  takes  the  name  of  the  Yanez  por- 


66  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

trait  from  that  of  the  owner  of  it,  from  whom  it  was  bought  in 
TheYanez  Granada,  in  1763.  Kepresenting,  when  brought  to 
picture.  notice,  a  garment  trimmed  with  fur,  there  has  been 
disclosed  upon  it,  and  underlying  this  later  paint,  an  original, 


THE  TANEZ  COLUMBUS. 

close-fitting  tunic,  much  like  the  Florence  picture ;  while  a  fur 
ther  removal  of  the  superposed  pigment  has  revealed  an  inscrip 
tion,  supposed  to  authenticate  it  as  Columbus,  the  discoverer  of 
the  New  World.  It  is  said  that  the  Duke  of  Veragua  holds 
it  to  be  the  most  authentic  likeness  of  his  ancestor. 

Another  conspicuous  portrait  is  that  given  by  De  Bry  in  the 
De  Bry's  larger  series  of  his  Collection  of  Early  Voyages.  De 
Bry  claims  that  it  was  painted  by  order  of  King 
Ferdinand,  and  that  it  was  purloined  from  the  offices  of  the 
Council  of  the  Indies  in  Spain,  and  brought  to  the  Netherlands, 
and  in  this  way  fell  into  the  hands  of  that  engraver  and  editor. 
It  bears  little  resemblance  to  the  pictures  already  mentioned  •, 
nor  does  it  appear  to  conform  to  the  descriptions  of  Columbus's 


PORTRAITISTS.  67 

person.  It  has  a  more  rugged  and  shorter  face,  with  a  profu 
sion  of  closely  waved  hair  falling  beneath  an  ugly,  angular  cap. 
De  Bry  engraved  it,  or  rather  published  it,  in  1595,  twenty 


COLUMBUS. 

[A  reproduction  of  the  so-called  Capriolo  cut  given  in  Giuseppe  Banchero's  La  Tavola  di  Bronzo, 
(Genoa,  1857),  and  based  on  the  Jovian  type.] 

years  after  the  Jovian  wood-cut  appeared,  and  eleven  years  after 
The  vet  had  given  one.  No  one  of  the  generation  that  was  old 
enough  to  have  known  the  navigator  could  then  have  survived, 


68 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


and  the  picture  has  no  other  voucher  than  the  professions  of  the 
engraver  of  it. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  pictures  that  have  been 
other  Por-     made  to  pass,  first  and  last,  for  Columbus,  and  the 
only  ones  meriting  serious  study  for  their  claims.    The 
American  public  was  long  taught  to  regard  the  effigy  of  Co 
lumbus  as  that  of  a  bedizened  courtier,  because  Prescott  se- 


DE  BRT'S  COLUMBUS. 


lected  for  an  engraving  to  adorn  his  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
a  picture  of  such  a  person,  which  is  ascribed  to  Parmigiano, 
and  is  preserved  in  the  Museo  Borbonico,  at  Naples.  Its  claims 
long  ago  ceased  to  be  considered.  The  traveler  in  Cuba  sees 
in  the  Cathedral  at  Havana  a  monumental  effigy,  of 
which  there  is  no  evidence  of  authenticity  worthy  of 
consideration.  The  traveler  in  Italy  can  see  in  Genoa,  placed 
on  the  cabinet  which  was  made  to  hold  the  manuscript  titles 


Havana 
monument. 


PORTRAITISTS. 


69 


of  Columbus,  a  bust  by  Peschiera.     It  has  the  negative  merit 
of  having  no  relation  to  any  of  the  alleged  portraits ;   peschiera'3 
but  represents  the  sculptor's  conception  of  the  man,   bust- 


ft        if!/*  <^s  "**™-** vu&  t/fc-  <*t.  tx/  y?tL- 

ycrd5£?e#ie3a6r4nzct&  fiUtstTx^tyacton 


THE  BUST  OF  COLUMBUS  ON  THE  TOMB  AT  HAVANA. 

guided  by  the  scant  descriptions  of  him  given  to  us  by  his  con 
temporaries. 

If  the  reader  desires  to  see  how  extensive  the  field  of  research 


70  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

is,  for  one  who  can  spend  the  time  in  tracing  all  the  clues  con 
nected  with  all  the  representations  which  pass  for  Columbus, 
he  can  make  a  beginning,  at  least,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
essay  on  the  portraits  which  the  present  writer  contributed  to 
the  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,  vol.  ii. 

When  Columbus,  in  1502,  ordered  a  tenth  of  his  income  to 
be  paid  annually  to  the  Bank  of  St.  George,  in  Genoa,  for  the 
purpose  of  reducing  the  tax  upon  corn,  wine,  and  other  provis 
ions,  the  generous  act,  if  it  had  been  carried  out,  would  have 
entitled  him  to  such  a  recognition  as  a  public  benefactor  as  the 
bank  was  accustomed  to  bestow.  The  main  hall  of  the  palace  of 
this  institution  commemorates  such  patriotic  efforts  by  showing 
a  sitting  statue  for  the  largest  benefactors ;  a  standing  figure  for 
lesser  gifts,  while  still  lower  gradations  of  charitable  help  are 
indicated  in  busts,  or  in  mere  inscriptions  on  a  mural  tablet. 
It  has  been  thought  that  posterity,  curious  to  see  the  great  Ad 
miral  as  his  contemporaries  saw  him,  suffers  with  the  state  of 
Genoa,  in  not  having  such  an  effigy,  by  the  neglect  or  inatten 
tion  which  followed  upon  the  announced  purpose  of  Columbus. 
We  certainly  find  there  to-day  no  such  visible  proof  of  his 
munificence  or  aspect.  Harrisse,  while  referring  to  this  depriva 
tion,  takes  occasion,  in  his  Bank  of  St.  George  (p.  108),  to  say 
that  he  does  not  "  believe  that  the  portrait  of  Columbus  was 
ever  drawn,  carved,  or  painted  from  the  life."  He  contends 
that  portrait-painting  was  not  common  in  Spain,  in  Columbus's 
day,  and  that  we  have  no  trace  of  the  painters,  whose  work 
constitutes  the  beginning  of  the  art,  in  any  record,  or  authentic 
effigy,  to  show  that  the  person  of  the  Admiral  was  ever  made 
the  subject  of  the  art.  The  same  writer  indicates  that  the  in 
terval  during  which  Columbus  was  popular  enough  to  be 
painted  extended  over  only  six  weeks  in  April  and  May,  1493. 
He  finds  that  much  greater  heroes,  as  the  world  then  deter 
mined,  like  Boabdil  and  Cordova,  were  not  thus  honored,  and 
holds  that  the  portraits  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  which  edi 
tions  of  Prescott  have  made  familiar,  are  really  fancy  pictures 
of  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  ANCESTRY  AND  HOME  OF  COLUMBUS. 

No  one  has  mastered  so  thoroughly  as  Harrisse  the  intricacies 
of  the  Columbus  genealogy.     A  pride  in  the  name  of  The  name 
Colombo  has  been  shared  by  all  who  have  borne  it  or  Colombo- 
have  had  relationship  with  it,   and   there  has  been  a  not  un 
worthy  competition  among  many  branches  of  the  common  stock 
to  establish  the  evidences  of  their  descent  in  connection,  more 
or  less  intimate,  with  the  greatest  name  that  has  signalized  the 
family  history. 

This  reduplication  of  families,  as  well  as  the  constant  recur 
rence  of  the  same  fore-names,  particularly  common  in  Italian 
families,  has  rendered  it  difficult  to  construct  the  genealogical 
tree  of  the  Admiral,  and  has  given  ground  for  drafts  of  his 
pedigree,  acceptable  to  some,  and  disputed  by  other  claimants 
of  kinship. 

There  was  a  Gascon-French  subject  of  Louis  XI.,  Guillaume 
de  Casanove,  sometimes  called  Coulomp,  Coullon,  Co-  The  French 
Ion,  in  the  Italian  accounts  Colombo,  and  Latinized  as  Colombos- 
Columbus,  who  is  said  to  have  commanded  a  fleet  of  seven  sail, 
which,  in  October,  1474,  captured  two  galleys  belonging  to 
Ferdinand,  king  of  Sicily.  When  Leibnitz  published,  for  the 
first  time,  some  of  the  diplomatic  correspondence  which  ensued, 
he  interjected  the  fore-name  Christophorus  in  the  references  to 
the  Columbus  of  this  narrative.  This  was  in  his  Codex  Juris 
Gentium  Diplomaticus,  published  at  Hannover  in  1693.  Leib 
nitz  was  soon  undeceived  by  Nicolas  Thoynard,  who  explained 
that  the  corsair  in  question  was  Guillaume  de  Casanove,  vice- 
admiral  of  France,  and  Leibnitz  disavowed  the  imputation  upon 
the  Genoese  navigator  in  a  subsequent  volume.  Though  there 
is  some  difference  of  opinion  respecting  the  identity  of  Casa 
nove  and  the  capturer  of  the  galleys,  there  can  no  longer  be  any 
doubt,  in  the  light  of  pertinent  investigations,  that  the  French 


72  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Colombos  were  of  no  immediate  kin  to  the  family  of  Genoa  and 
Savona,  as  is  abundantly  set  forth  by  Harrisse  in  his  Les  Co 
lombo  de  France  et  d'ltalie  (Paris,  1874).  Since  the  French 
Coullon,  or  Coulomp,  was  sometimes  in  the  waters  neighboring 
to  Genoa,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  some  confusion  may  arise  in 
separating  the  Italian  from  the  French  Colombos ;  and  it  has 
been  pointed  out  that  a  certain  entry  of  wreckage  in  the  registry 
of  Genoa,  which  Spotorno  associates  with  Christopher  Columbus, 
may  more  probably  be  connected  with  this  Gascon  navigator. 

Bossi,  the  earliest  biographer  in  recent  times,  considers  that 
a  Colombo  named  in  a  letter  to  the  Duke  of  Milan  as  being  in 
a  naval  fight  off  Cyprus,  between  Genoese  and  Venetian  vessels, 
in  1476,  was  the  discoverer  of  the  New  World.  Harrisse,  in 
his  Les  Colombo,  has  printed  this  letter,  and  from  it  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  commander  of  the  Genoese  fleet  is  known  by 
name,  and  that  the  only  mention  of  a  Colombo  is  that  a  fleet 
commanded  by  one  of  that  name  was  somewhere  encountered. 
There  is  no  indication,  however,  that  this  commander  was 
Christopher  Columbus.  The  presumption  is  that  he  was  the 
roving  Casanove. 

Leibnitz  was  doubtless  misled  by  the  assertion  of  the  His- 
torie  of  1571,  which  allows  that  Christopher  Columbus  had 
sailed  under  the  orders  of  an  admiral  of  his  name  and  family, 
and,  particularly,  was  in  that  naval  combat  off  Lisbon,  when,  his 
vessel  getting  on  fire,  he  swam  with  the  aid  of  an  oar  to  the 
Portuguese  shore.  The  doubtful  character  of  this  episode  will 
be  considered  later ;  but  it  is  more  to  the  purpose  here  that  this 
same  book,  in  citing  a  letter,  of  which  we  are  supposed  to  have 
the  complete  text  as  preserved  by  Columbus  himself,  makes 
Columbus  say  that  he  was  not  the  only  admiral  which  his  family 
had  produced.  This  is  a  clear  reference,  it  is  supposed,  to  this 
vice-admiral  of  France.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  the  genuine 
text  of  this  letter  to  the  nurse  of  Don  Juan  does  not  contain  this 
controverted  passage,  and  the  defenders  of  the  truth  of  the  His- 
torie,  like  D'Avezac,  are  forced  to  imagine  there  must  have 
been  another  letter,  not  now  known. 

Beside  the  elder  admiral  of  France,  the  name  of  Colombo 

Junior  belonged  to  another  of  these  French  sea-rovers 

er  French      in  the  fifteenth  century,  who  has  been  held  to  be  a 

nephew,  or  at  least  a  relative,  of  the  elder.     He  has 

also  sometimes  been  confounded  with  the  Genoese  Columbus. 


THE  ANCESTRY  AND  HOME   OF  COLUMBUS.         73 

To   determine    the    exact    relationship    between   the  various 
French  and  Italian  Colombos  and  Coulons  of  the  fif 
teenth  century  would  be  hazardous.     It  is  enough  to 
say  that  no  evidence  that  stands  a  critical  test  remains  to  con 
nect  these  famous  mariners  with  the  line  of   Christopher  Co 
lumbus.      The    genealogical    tables    which    Spotorno    presents, 
upon  which  Caleb  Cushing  enlightened  American  readers  at  the 
'  time  in  the  North  American  Review,  and  in  which  the  French 
family  is  made  to  issue  from  an  alleged  great-grand 
father  of  Christopher  Columbus,  are  affirmed  by  Har- 
risse,  with  much  reason,  to  have  been  made  up  not  far  from 
1583,  to  support  the  claims  of   Bernardo  and  Baldassare  (Bal 
thazar)   Colombo,  as  pretenders  to  the  rights  and  titles  of  the 
discoverer  of  the  New  World. 

Ferdinand  is  made  in  his  own  name  to  say  of  his  father,  "  I 
think  it  better  that  all  the  honor  be  derived  to  us  from  his  per 
son  than  to  go  about  to  inquire  whether  his  father  was  a  mer 
chant  or  a  man  of  quality,  that  kept  his  hawks  and  hounds." 
Other  biographers,  however,  have  pursued  the  inquiry  dili 
gently. 

In  one  of  the  sections  of  his  book  on  Christopher  Columbus 
and  the  Bank  of  Saint  George,  Harrisse  has  shown  Columbia's 
how  the  notarial  records  of  Savona  and  Genoa  have  family  line- 
been  worked,  to  develop  the  early  history  of  the  Admiral's 
family  from  documentary  proofs.  These  evidences  are  distinct 
from  the  narratives  of  those  who  had  known  him,  or  who  at  a 
later  day  had  told  his  story,  as  Gallo,  the  writer  of  the  His- 
torie,  and  Oviedo  did.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to 
the  prevalence  of  Colombo  as  a  patronymic  in  Genoa  and  the 
neighboring  country  at  that  time.  Harrisse  in  his  Christophe 
Colomb  has  enumerated  two  hundred  of  this  name  in  Liguria 
alone,  in  those  days,  who  seem  to  have  had  no  kinship  to  the 
family  of  the  Admiral.  There  appear  to  have  been  in  Genoa, 
moreover,  four  Colombos,  and  in  Liguria,  outside  of  Genoa,  six 
others  who  bore  the  name  of  Christopher's  father,  Domenico  ; 
but  the  searchers  have  not  yet  found  a  single  other  Christoforo. 
These  facts  show  the  discrimination  which  those  who  of  late 
years  have  been  investigating  the  history  of  the  Admiral's  fam 
ily  have  been  obliged  to  exercise.  There  are  sixty  notarial  acts 


74  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

of  one  kind  and  another,  out  of  which  these  investigators  have 
constructed  a  pedigree,  which  must  stand  till  present  knowledge 
is  increased  or  overthrown. 

What  we  know  in  the  main  is  this  :  Giovanni  Colombo,  the 
His  grand-  grandfather  of  the  Admiral,  lived  probably  in  Quinto 
al  Mare,  and  was  of  a  stock  that  seemingly  had  been 
earlier  settled  in  the  valley  of  Fontanabuona,  a  region  east  of 
Genoa.  This  is  a  parentage  of  the  father  of  Columbus  quite 
different  from  that  shown  in  the  genealogical  chart  made  by 
Napione  in  1805  and  later ;  and  Harrisse  tells  us  that  the  no 
tarial  acts  which  were  given  then  as  the  authority  for  such  other 
line  of  descent  cannot  now  be  found,  and  that  there  are  grave 
doubts  of  their  authenticity. 

It  was  this  Giovanni's  son,  Domenico,  who  came  from  Quinto 

(where  he  left  a  brother,  Antonio)  at  least  as  early 

as  1439,  and  perhaps  earlier,  and  settled  himself  in 

the  wool-weaver's  quarter,  so  called,  in  Genoa,  where  in  due 

time  he  owned  a  house.     Thence  he  seems  to  have  removed  to 

Savona,  where  various  notarial  acts  recognize  him  at  a  later 

period  as  a  Genoese,  resident  in  Savona. 

The  essential  thing  remaining  to  be  proved  is  that  the  Do 
menico  Colombo  of  these  notarial  acts  was  the  Domenico  who 
was  the  father  of  Christopher  Columbus.  For  this  purpose  we 
must  take  the  testimony  of  those  who  knew  the  genuine  Co- 
loinbos,  as  Oviedo  and  Gallo  did ;  and  from  their  statements 
we  learn  that  the  father  of  Christopher  was  a  weaver  named 
Domenico,  who  lived  in  Genoa,  and  had  sons,  Christoforo,  Bar- 
tolomeo,  and  Giacomo.  These,  then,  are  the  test  conditions, 
and  finding  them  every  one  answered  in  the  Savona-Genoa 
family,  the  proof  seems  incontestable,  even  to  the  further  fact 
that  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  all  three  brothers  had 
for  some  years  lived  under  the  Spanish  crown. 

It  is  too  much  to  say  that  this  concatenation  of  identities 
may  not  possibly  be  overturned,  perhaps  by  discrediting  the 
documents,  not  indeed  untried  already  by  Peragallo  and  others, 
but  it  is  safe  to  accept  it  under  present  conditions  of  knowl 
edge  ;  though  we  have  to  trust  on  some  points  to  the  state 
ments  of  those  who  have  seen  what  no  longer  can  be  found. 
Domenico  Colombo,  who  had  removed  to  Savona  in  1470,  did 
not,  apparently,  prosper  there.  He  and  his  son  Christopher 


THE  ANCESTRY  AND  HOME   OF  COLUMBUS.         75 

pursued  their  trade  as  weavers,  as  the  notarial  records  show. 
Lamartine,  in  his  Life  of  Columbus,  speaking  of  the  wool-card 
ing  of  the  time,  calls  it  "  a  business  now  low,  but  then  respect 
able  and  almost  noble,"  —  an  idealization  quite  of  a  kind  with 
the  spirit  that  pervades  Lamartine's  book,  and  a  spirit  in  which 
it  has  been  a  fashion  to  write  of  Columbus  and  other  heroes. 
The  calling  was  doubtless,  then  as  now,  simply  respectable.  The 
father  added  some  experience,  it  would  seem,  in  keeping  a  house 
of  entertainment.  The  joint  profit,  however,  of  these  two  occupa 
tions  did  not  suffice  to  keep  him  free  from  debt,  out  of  which 
his  son  Christopher  is  known  to  have  helped  him  in  some  meas 
ure.  Domenico  sold  and  bought  small  landed  properties,  but 
did  not  pay  for  one  of  them  at  least.  There  were  fifteen  years 
of  this  precarious  life  passed  in  Savona,  during  which  he  lost 
his  wife,  when,  putting  his  youngest  son  to  an  apprenticeship, 
he  returned  in  1484,  or  perhaps  a  little  earlier,  to  Genoa,  to  try 
other  chances.  His  fortune  here  was  no  better.  Insolvency  still 
followed  him.  When  we  lose  sight  of  him,  in  1494,  the  old  man 
may,  it  is  hoped,  have  heard  rumors  of  the  transient  prosperity 
of  his  son,  and  perhaps  have  read  in  the  fresh  little  quartos  of 
Plaanck  the  marvelous  tale  of  the  great  discovery.  He  lived 
we  know  not  how  much  longer,  but  probably  died  before  the 
winter  of  1499—1500,  when  the  heirs  of  Corrado  de  Cuneo,  who 
had  never  received  due  payment  for  an  estate  which  Domenico 
had  bought  in  Savona,  got  judgment  against  Christopher  and 
his  brother  Diego,  the  sons  of  Domenico,  then  of  course  beyond 
reach  in  foreign  lands. 

Within  a  few  years  the  Marquis  Marcello  Staglieno,  a  learned 
antiquary  in   Genoa,  who  has  succeeded  in  throwing 
much  new  light  on  the  early  life  of  Columbus  from  hoSfc00 8 
the  notarial  records  of  that  city,  has  identified  a  house 
in  the  Vico  Dritto  Ponticello,  No.  37,  as  the  site  on  which  Do 
menico  Colombo  lived  during  the  younger  years  of  Christopher's 
life.     The  municipality  bought  this  estate  in  June,  1887,  and 
placed  over  its  door  an  inscription  recording  the  associations  of 
the  spot.     Harrisse  thinks  it  not  unlikely  that  the  great  navi 
gator  was  even  born  here.     The  discovery  of  his  father's  owner 
ship  of  the  house  seems  to  have  been  made  by  carefully  tracing- 
back  the  title  of  the  land  to  the  time  when  Domenico  owned 
it.     This  was  rendered  surer  by  tracing  the  titles  of  the  ad- 


76  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

joining  estates  back  to  the  time  of  Nicolas  Paravania  and  An- 
tonio  Bondi,  who,  according  to  the  notarial  act  of  1477,  record 
ing  Domenieo's  wife's  assent  to  the  sale  of  the  property,  lived 
as  Domenico's  next  neighbors. 

If  Christopher  Columbus  was  born  in  this  house,  that  event 
Columbus  took  place,  as  notarial  records,  brought  to  bear  by  the 
Marquis  Staglieno,  make  evident,  between  October  29, 
1446,  and  October  29,  1451  ;  and  if  some  degree  of  inference 
be  allowed,  Harrisse  thinks  he  can  narrow  the  range  to  the 
twelve  months  between  March  15,  1446,  and  March  20,  1447. 
This  is  the  period  within  which,  by  deduction  from  other  state 
ments,  some  of  the  modern  authorities,  like  Munoz,  Bossi,  and 
Spotorno,  among  the  Italians,  D' Avezac  among  the  French,  and. 
Major  in  England,  have  placed  the  event  of  Columbus's  birth 
without  the  aid  of  attested  documents.  This  conclusion  has 
been  reached  by  taking  an  avowal  of  Columbus  that  he  had  led 
twenty-three  years  a  sailor's  life  at  the  time  of  his  first  voyage, 
and  was  fourteen  years  old  when  he  began  a  seaman's  career. 
The  question  which  complicates  the  decision  is :  When  did 
Columbus  consider  his  sailor's  life  to  have  ended  ?  If  in  1492, 
as  Peschel  contends,  it  would  carry  his  birth  back  no  farther 
than  1455—56,  according  as  fractions  are  managed  ;  and  Peschel 
accepts  this  date,  because  he  believes  the  unconfirmed  statement 
of  Columbus  in  a  letter  of  July  7,  1503,  that  he  was  twenty-eight 
when  he  entered  the  service  of  Spain  in  1484. 

But  if  1484  is  accepted  as  the  termination  of  that  twenty- 
three  years  of  sea  life,  as  Munoz  and  the  others  already  men 
tioned  say,  then  we  get  the  result  which  most  nearly  accords 
with  the  notarial  records,  and  we  can  place  the  birth 

1 44  •">— 1 447 

of  Columbus  somewhere  in  the  years  1445—47,  accord 
ing  as  the  fractions  are  considered.  This  again  is  confirmed  by 
another  of  the  varied  statements  of  Columbus,  that  in  1501  it 
was  forty  years  since,  at  fourteen,  he  first  took  to  the  sea. 

There  has  been  one  other  deduction  used,  through  which  Na- 

varrete,  Humboldt,  Irving,  Roselly  de  Lorgues,  Napi- 

one,  and  others,  who  copy  them,   determine  that  his 

birth  must  have  taken  place,  by  a  similar  fractional  allowance  of 

margin,  in  1435-37.     This  is  based  upon  the  explicit  statement 

of  Andres  Bernaldez,  in  his  book  on  the  Catholic  monarchs  of 

Spain,  that  Columbus  at  his  death  was  about  seventy  years  old. 


THE  ANCESTRY  AND  HOME   OF  COLUMBUS.         11 

So  there  is  a  twenty  years'  range  for  those  who  may  be  influ 
enced  by  one  line  of  argument  or  another  in  determining  the 
date  of  the  Admiral's  birth.  Many  writers  have  discussed  the 
arguments ;  but  the  weight  of  authority  seems,  on  the  whole,  to 
rest  upon  the  records  which  are  used  by  Harfisse. 

The  mother  of  Columbus  was  Susanna,  a  daughter  of  Gia- 
como  de  Fontanarossa,  and  Domenico  married  her  in 
the  Bisagno  country,  a  region  lying  east  of  Genoa,  brothers,61' 
She  was  certainly  dead  in  1489,  and  had,  perhaps, 
died  as  early  as  1482,  in  Savona.  Beside  Christoforo,  this  alli 
ance  with  Domenico  Colombo  produced  four  other  children,  who 
were  probably  born  in  one  and  the  same  house.  They  were 
Giovanni-Pellegrino,  who,  in  1501,  had  been  dead  ten  years,  and 
was  unmarried ;  Bartolomeo,  who  was  never  married,  and  who 
will  be  encountered  later  as  Bartholomew ;  and  Giacomo,  who 
when  he  went  to  Spain  became  known  as  Diego  Colon,  but 
who  is  called  Jacobus  in  all  Latin  narratives.  There  was  also 
a  daughter,  Bianchinetta,  who  married  a  cheesemonger  named 
Bavarello,  and  had  one  child. 

Antonio,  the  brother  of  Domenico,  seems  to  have  had  three 
sons,  Giovanni,  Matteo,  and  Amighetto.  They  were  Hisuncie 
thus  cousins  of  the  Admiral,  and  they  were  so  far  cog-  and  C0llsin8- 
nizant  of  his  fame  in  1496  as  to  combine  in  a  declaration  before 
a  notary  that  they  united  in  sending  one  of  their  number,  Gio 
vanni,  on  a  voyage  to  Spain  to  visit  their  famous  kinsman,  the 
Admiral  of  the  Indies ;  their  object  being,  most  probably,  to 
profit,  if  they  could,  by  basking  in  his  favor. 

If    the   evidences    thus    set    forth   of   his  family  history  be 
accepted,  there  is  no  question  that  Columbus,  as  he  Bornin 
himself  always  said,  and  finally  in  his  will  declared,   Genoa- 
and  as  Ferdinand  knew,  although  it  is  not  affirmed  in  the  His- 
torie,  was  born 'in  Genoa.     Among  the  early  writers,  if  we  except 
Galindez  de  Carvajal,  who  claimed  him  for  Savona,  there  seems 
to  have  been  little   or  no  doubt  that  he  was  born  in  Genoa. 
Peter  Martyr  and  Las  Casas  affirm  it.     Bernaldez  believed  it. 
Giustiniani  asserts  it.     But  when  Oviedo,  not  many  years  after 
Columbus's  death,   wrote,    it    was   become    so  doubtful    where 
Columbus  was  born  that  he  mentions  five  or  six  towns  which 
claimed  the  honor  of  being  his  birthplace.     The  claim  ciaimfor 
for  Savona   has   always  remained,  after  Genoa,    that  Savona' 
which  has  received  the  best  recognition.     The  grounds  of  such 


78  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

a  belief,  however,  have  been  pretty  well  disproved  in  Harrisse's 
Christophe  Colomb  et  Savone  (Genoa,  1887),  and  it  has  been 
shown,  as  it  would  seem  conclusively,  that,  prior  to  Domenico 
Colombo's  settling  in  Savona  in  1470-71,  he  had  lived  in 
Genoa,  where  his  children,  taking  into  account  their  known  or 
computed  ages,  must  have  been  born.  It  seems  useless  to  re- 
and  other  hearse  the  arguments  which  strenuous  advocates  have, 
places.  at  one  tjme  Qr  another,  offered  in  support  of  the  pre 
tensions  of  many  other  Italian  towns  and  villages  to  have  fur 
nished  the  great  discoverer  to  the  world,  —  Plaisance,  Cuccaro, 
Cogoleto,  Pradello,  Nervi,  Albissola,  Bogliasco,  Cosseria,  Finale, 
Oneglia,  Quinto,  Novare,  Chiavari,  Milan,  Modena.  The  pre 
tensions  of  some  of  them  were  so  urgent  that  in  1812  the  Acad 
emy  of  History  at  Genoa  thought  it  worth  while  to  present  the 
proofs  as  respects  their  city  in  a  formal  way.  The  claims  of 
Cuccaro  were  used  in  support  of  a  suit  by  Balthazar  Colombo, 
to  obtain  possession  of  the  Admiral's  legal  rights.  The  claim 
of  Cogoleto  seems  to  have  been  mixed  up  with  the  supposed 
birth  of  the  corsairs,  Colombos,  in  that  town,  who  for  a  long 
while  were  confounded  with  the  Admiral.  There  is  left  in 
favor  of  any  of  them,  after  their  claims  are  critically  examined, 
nothing  but  local  pride  and  enthusiasm.  * 

The  latest  claimant  for  the  honor  is  the  town  of  Calvi,  in  Cor 
sica,  and  this  cause  has  been  particularly  embraced  by  the 
French.  So  late  as  1882,  President  Grevy,  of  the  French  Re 
public,  undertook  to  give  a  national  sanction  to  these  claims  by 
approving  the  erection  there  of  a  statue  of  Columbus.  The 
assumption  is  based  upon  a  tradition  that  the  great  discoverer 
was  a  native  of  that  place.  The  principal  elucidator  of  that 
claim,  the  Abbe  Martin  Casanova  de  Pioggiola,  seems  to  have 
a  comfortable  notion  that  tradition  is  the  strongest  kind  of  his 
torical  proof,  though  it  is  not  certain  that  he  would  think  so 
with  respect  to  the  twenty  and  more  other  places  on  the  Italian 
coast  where  similar  traditions  exist  or  are  said  to  be  current. 
Harrisse  seems  to  have  thought  the  claim  worth  refuting  in  his 
Christophe  Colomb  et  La  Corse  (Paris,  1888),  to  say  nothing 
of  other  examinations  of  the  subject  in  the  Revue  de  Paris  and 
the  Revue  Critique,  and  of  two  very  recent  refutations,  one  by 
the  Abbe  Casabianca  in  his  Le  Berceau  de  Christophe  Colomb 
et  la  Corse  (Paris,  1889),  and  the  last  word  of  Harrisse  in  the 
Historiqve  (1890,  p.  182). 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   UNCERTAINTIES   OF   THE   EARLY    LIFE   OF   COLUMBUS. 

THE  condition  of  knowledge  respecting  Columbus's  early  life 
was  such,  when  Prescott  wrote,  that  few  would  dispute  his  con 
clusion  that  it  is  hopeless  to  unravel  the  entanglement  of  events, 
associated  with  the  opening  of  his  career.  The  critical  discern 
ment  of  Harrisse  and  other  recent  investigators  has  since  then 
done  something  to  make  the  confusion  even  more  apparent  by 
unsettling  convictions  too  hastily  assumed.  A  bunch  of  be 
wildering  statements,  in  despite  of  all  that  present  scholarship 
can  do,  is  left  to  such  experts  as  may  be  possessed  in  the  future 
of  more  determinate  knowledge.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if 
absolute  clarification  of  the  record  is  ever  to  be  possible. 

The  student  naturally  inquires  of  the  contemporaries  of  Co 
lumbus  as  to  the  quality  and  extent  of  his  early  edu-  Hiseduca- 
cation,  and  he  derives  most  from  Las  Casas  and  the  tlon' 
Historic  of  1571.  It  has  of  late  been  ascertained  that  the  wool- 
combers  of  Genoa  established  local  schools  for  the  education  of 
their  children,  and  the  young  Christopher  may  have  had  his 
share  of  their  instruction,  in  addition  to  whatever  he  picked  up 
at  his  trade,  which  continued,  as  long  as  he  remained  in  Italy, 
that  of  his  father.  We  know  from  the  manuscripts  which  have 
come  down  to  us  that  Columbus  acquired  the  manual  dexterity 
of  a  good  penman ;  and  if*  some  existing  drawings  are  not  apoc 
ryphal,  he  had  a  deft  hand,  too,  in  making  a  spirited  sketch  with 
a  few  strokes.  His  drawing  of  maps,  which  we  are  also  told 
about,  implies  that  he  had  fulfilled  Ptolemy's  definition  of  that 
art  of  the  cosmographer  which  could  represent  the  cartographic 
outlines  of  countries  with  supposable  correctness.  He  could  do 
it  with  such  skill  that  he  practiced  it  at  one  time,  as  is  said, 
for  the  gaining  of  a  livelihood.  We  know,  trusting  the  Histo- 
rie,  that  he  was  for  a  brief  period  at  the  University  of  Pavia, 


80  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

perhaps  not  far  from  1460,  where  he  sought  to  understand  the 
mysteries  of  cosmography,  astrology,  and  geometry. 
Bossi  has  enumerated  the  professors  in  these  depart- 


DRAWING   ASCRIBED  TO   COLUMBUS. 


ments  at  that  time,  from  whose  teaching  Columbus  may  pos 
sibly  have  profited.      Harrisse  with  his  accustomed   distrust, 


UNCERTAINTIES   OF  HIS  EARLY  LIFE. 


81 


throws  great  doubt  011  the  whole  narrative  of  his  university 
experiences,  and  thinks 
Pavia  at  this  time  of 
fered  no  peculiar  advan 
tages  for  an  aspiring  sea 
man,  to  be  compared  with 
the  practical  instruction 
which  Genoa  in  its  com 
mercial  eminence  could 
at  the  same  time  have 
offered  to  any  sea-smit 
ten  boy.  It  was  at  Genoa 
at  this  very  time  (1461), 
that  Benincasa  was  pro 
ducing  his  famous  sea- 
c-harts. 

After  his  possible,  if 
not  probable,  sojourn  at 
Pavia,  made  transient,  it 
has  been  suggested  but 
not  proved,  by  the  failing 
fortunes  of  his  father, 
Christopher  returned  to 
Genoa,  and  then  after  an 
uncertain  interval  e  n  - 
tered  on  his  seafaring 
career.  If  what  passes  for  his  own  statement  be  taken  he  was 
at  this  turn  of  his  life  not  more  than  fourteen  years 
old.  The  attractions  of  the  sea  at  that  period  of  the 
fifteenth  century  were  great  for  adventurous  youths.  There  was 
a  spice  of  piracy  in  even  the  soberest  ventures  of  commerce,. 
The  ships  of  one  Christian  state  preyed  on  another.  Private 
ventures  were  buccaneerish,  and  the  hand  of  the  Catalouian  and 
of  the  Moslem  were  turned  against  all.  The  news  which  sped 
from  one  end  of  the  Mediterranean  to  the  other  was  of  fight 
and  plunder,  here  and  everywhere.  Occasionally  it  was  mixed 
with  rumors  of  the  voyages  beyond  the  Straits  of  Hercules, 
which  told  of  the  Portuguese  and  their  hazards  on  the  African 
coast  towards  the  equator.  Not  far  from  the  time  when  our 
vigorous  young  Genoese  wool-comber  may  be  supposed  to  have 


ANDREAS   BENINCASA,    147G. 
[From  St.  Martin's  Atlas.'} 


Goes  to  sea. 


82  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

embarked  on  some  of  these  venturesome  exploits  of  the  great 
inland  sea,  there  might  have  come  jumping  from  port  to  port, 

westerly  along  the  Mediterranean  shores,  the  story  of 
Henry,  the  the  death  of  that  great  maritime  spirit  of  Portugal, 

Prince  Henry,  the  Navigator,  and  of  the  latest  feats 
of  his  captains  in  the  great  ocean  of  the  west. 


SHIP,  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 
[From  the  Isolario,  1547.] 

It  has  been  usual  to  associate  the  earliest  maritime  career  of 
x-  our  dashing  Genoese  with  an  expedition  fitted  out  in 
pedition.  Genoa  by  John  of  Anjou,  Duke  of  Calabria,  to  re 
cover  possession  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples  for  his  father,  Duke 
Rene,  Count  of  Provence.  This  is  known  to  have  been  under 
taken  in  1459-61.  The  pride  of  Genoa  encouraged  the  service 
of  the  attacking  fleet,  and  many  a  citizen  cast  in  his  lot  with 


UNCERTAINTIES   OF  HIS  EARLY  LIFE.  83 

that  naval  armament,  and  embarked  with  his  own  subsidiary 
command.  There  is  mention  of  a  certain  doughty  captain,  Co 
lombo  by  name,  as  leading  one  part  of  this  expeditionary  force., 
He  was  very  likely  one  of  those  French  corsairs  of  that  name, 
already  mentioned,  and  likely  to  have  been  a  man  of  importance 
in  the  Franco-Genoese  train.  He  has,  indeed,  been  sometimes 
made  a  kinsman  of  the  wool-comber's  son.  There  is  little  likeli 
hood  of  his  having  been  our  Christopher  himself,  then,  as  we 
may  easily  picture  him,  a  red-haired  youth,  or  in  life's  early 
prime,  with  a  ruddy  complexion,  —  a  type  of  the  Italian  which 
one  to-day  is  not  without  the  chance  of  encountering  in  the 
north  of  Italy,  preserving,  it  may  be,  some  of  that  northern 
blood  which  had  produced  the  Vikings. 

The  Historie  of  1571  gives  what  purports  to  be  a  letter  of 
Columbus  describing  some  of  the  events  of  this  campaign.  It 
was  addressed  to  the  Spanish  monarchs  in  1495.  If  Anjou  was 
connected  with  any  service  in  which  Columbus  took  part,  it  is 
easy  to  make  it  manifest  that  it  could  not  have  happened  later 
than  1461,  because  the  reverses  of  that  year  drove  the  unfortu 
nate  Rene  into  permanent  retirement.  The  rebuttal  of  this 
testimony  depends  largely  upon  the  date  of  Columbus's  birth  ; 
and  if  that  is  placed  in  1446,  as  seems  well  established,  Colum 
bus,  the  'Genoese  mariner,  could  hardly  have  commanded  a  gal 
ley  in  it  at  fourteen ;  and  it  is  still  more  improbable  if,  as 
D'Avezac  says,  Columbus  was  in  the  expedition  when  it  set  out 
in  1459,  since  the  boy  Christopher  was  then  but  twelve.  As 
Harrisse  puts  it,  the  letter  of  Columbus  quoted  in  the  His 
torie  is  apocryphal,  or  the  correct  date  of  Columbus's  birth  is 
not  1446. 

It  is,  however,  not  to  be  forgotten  that  Columbus  himself 
testifies  to  the  tender  age  at  which  he  began  his  sea-service 
when,  in  1501,  he  recalled  some  of  his  early  experiences ;  but, 
unfortunately,  Columbus  was  chronically  given  to  looseness  of 
statement,  and  the  testimony  of  his  contemporaries  is  often  the 
better  authority.  In  1501,  his  mind,  moreover,  was  verging  011 
irresponsibility.  He  had  a  talent  for  deceit,  and  sometimes 
boasted  of  it,  or  at  least  counted  it  a  merit. 

Much  investigation  has  wonderfully  confirmed  the  accuracy 
of  that  earliest  sketch  of  his  career  contained  in  the  Giustiniani 
Psalter  in  1516  ;  and  it  is  learned  from  that  narrative  that  Co- 


84  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

lumbus  had  attained  an  adult  age  when  he  first  went  to  sea,  — 
and  this  was  one  of  the  statements  which  the  Historie  of  1571 
sought  to  discredit.  If  the  notarial  records  of  Savona  are  cor 
rect  in  calling  Columbus  a  wool-comber  in  1472,  and  he  was  of 
the  Savona  family,  and  born  in  1446,  he  was  then  twenty-six 
years  old,  and  of  the  adult  age  that  is  claimed  by  the  Psalter 
and  by  other  early  writers,  who  either  knew  or  mentioned  him, 
when  he  began  his  seafaring  life.  In  that  case  he  could  have 
had  no  part  in  the  Anjou-Rene  expedition,  whose  whole  story, 
even  with  the  expositions  of  Harrisse  and  Max  Biidinger,  is 
shrouded  in  uncertainties  of  time  and  place.  That  after  1473 
he  disappears  from  every  notarial  record  that  can  be  found  in 
Genoa  shows,  in  Harrisse's  opinion,  that  it  was  not  till  then 
that  he  took  to  the  sea  as  a  profession. 

We  cannot  say  that  the  information  which  we  have  of  this 
early  seafaring  life  of  Columbus,  whenever  beginning,  is  de 
serving  of  much  credit,  and  it  is  difficult  to  place  whatever  it 
includes  in  chronological  order. 

We  may  infer  from  one  of  his  statements  that  he  had,  at 
some  time,  been  at  Scio  observing  the  making  of  mastic.  Cer 
tain  reports  which  most  likely  concern  his  namesakes,  the  French 
corsairs,  are  sometimes  associated  with  him  as  leading  an  attack 
on  Spanish  galleys  somewhere  in  the  service  of  Louis  XI.,  or 
as  cruising  near  Cyprus. 

So  everything  is  misty  about  these  early  days ;  but  the  imagi 
nation  of  some  of  his  biographers  gives  us  abundant  precision 
for  the  daily  life  of  the  school-boy,  apprentice,  cabin  boy,  mari 
ner,  and  corsair,  even  to  the  receiving  of  a  wound  which  we 
know  troubled  him  in  his  later  years.  Such  a  story  of  details 
is  the  filling  up  of  a  scant  outline  with  the  colors  of  an  unfaith 
ful  limner. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  ALLUREMENTS  OF  PORTUGAL. 

COLUMBUS,  disappearing  from  Italy  in  1473,  is  next  found  in 
Portugal,  and  it  is  a  natural  inquiry  why  an  active, 
adventurous  spirit,  having  tested  the  exhilaration  of 
the  sea,  should  have  made  his  way  to  that  outpost  of  maritime 
ambition,  bordering  on  the  great  waters,  that  had  for  many  ages 
attracted  and  puzzled  the  discoverer  and  cosmographer.  It  is 
hardly  to  be  doubted  that  the  fame  of  the  Portuguese  voyaging 
out  upon  the  vasty  deep,  or  following  the  western  coast  of  Af 
rica,  had  for  some  time  been  a  not  unusual  topic  of  talk  among 
the  seamen  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  may  be  only  less  probable 
that  an  intercourse  of  seafaring  Mediterranean  people  with  the 
Arabs  of  the  Levant  had  brought  rumors  of  voyages 
in  the  ocean  that  washed  the  eastern  shores  of  Africa,  enterprise  in 
These  stories  from  the  Orient  might  well  have  induced 
some  to  speculate  that  such  voyages  were  but  the  complements 
of  those  of  the  Portuguese  in  their  efforts  to  solve  the  problem 
of  the  circumnavigation  of  the  great  African  continent.  It  is 
not,  then,  surprising  that  a  doughty  mariner  like  Columbus,  in 
life's  prime,  should  have  desired  to  be  in  the  thick  of  such  dis 
cussions,  and  to  no  other  European  region  could  he  have  turned 
as  a  wanderer  with  the  same  satisfaction  as  to  Portugal. 

Let  us  see  how  the  great  maritime  questions  stood  in  Portu 
gal  in  1473,  and  from  what  antecedents  they  had  arisen. 

The  Portuguese,  at  this  time,  had  the  reputation  of  being  the 
most  expert  seamen  in  Europe,  or  at  least  they  divided  Portuguese 
it  with   the   Catalans   and   Majorcans.     Their   fame  8eamanshiP- 
lasted,  and  at  a  later  day  was  repeated  by  Acosta.    These  hardy 
mariners  had  pushed  boldly  out,  as  early  as  we  have  any  records, 
into  the  enticing  and  yet  forbidding  Sea  of  Darkness,   Expiora. 
not  often  perhaps  willingly  out  of  sight  of  land  ;  but  seTof°nthe 
storms  not  infrequently  gave  them  the  experience  of  Darkne8S- 


86  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

sea  and  sky,  and  nothing  else.  The  great  ocean  was  an  untried 
waste  for  cartography.  A  few  straggling  beliefs  in  islands 
lying  westward  had  come  down  from  the  ancients,  and  the  fan- 
Marino  sa-  tastic  notions  of  floating  islands  and  steady  lands, 
nuto,  1306.  Up011  which  the  imagination  of  the  Middle  Ages 
thrived,  were  still  rife,  when  we  find  in  the  map  of  Marino 
Sanuto,  in  1306,  what  may  well  be  considered  the  beginning  of 
Atlantic  cartography. 

There  is  no  occasion  to  make  it  evident  that  the  Islands  of 
The  Cana-  the  West  found  by  the  Phoenicians,  the  Fortunate 
Islands  of  Sertorius,  and  the  Hesperides  of  Pliny  were 
the  Canaries  of  later  times,  brought  to  light  after  thirteen  cen 
turies  of  oblivion  ;  but  these  islands  stand  in  the  planisphere  of 
Sanuto  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,  to  be  casu 
ally  visited  by  the  Spaniards  and  others  for  a  hundred  years 
and  more  before  the  Norman,  Jean  de  Bethencourt,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  (1402),  settled  himself  on  one 
of  them.  Here  his  kinspeople  ruled,  till  finally  the  rival  claims 
of  sovereignty  by  Spain  and  Portugal  ended  in  the  rights  of 
Spain  being  established,  with  compensating  exclusive  rights  to 
Portugal  on  the  African  coast. 

But  it  was  by  Genoese  in  the  service  of  Portugal,  the  fame 
The  Genoese  °^  whose  exploits  may  not  have  been  unknown  to  Co 
in  Portugal,  lumkug^  that  the  most  important  discoveries  of  ocean 
islands  had  been  made. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  that  the 
Madeira  group  had  been  discovered.  In  the  Lauren- 
tian  portolano  of  1351,  preserved  at  Florence,  it  is 
unmistakably  laid  down  and  properly  named,  and  that  atlas 
has  been  considered,  for  several  reasons,  the  work  of  Genoese, 
and  as  probably  recording  the  voyage  by  the  Genoese  Pezagno 
for  the  Portuguese  king,  —  at  least  Major  holds  that  to  be  de 
monstrable.  The  real  right  of  the  Portuguese  to  these  islands. 
rests,  however,  on  their  rediscovery  by  Prince  Henry's  captains 
at  a  still  later  period,  in  1418-20,  when  Madeira,  seen  as  a 
cloud  in  the  horizon  from  Porto  Santo,  was  approached  in  a 
boat  from  the  smaller  island. 

It  is  also  from  the  Lauren tian  portolano  of  1351  that  we 
know  how,  at  some  anterior  time,  the  greater  group 
of  the  Azores  had  been  found  by  Portuguese  vessels 


THE  ALLUREMENTS   OF  PORTUGAL. 


87 


under  Genoese  commanders.     We  find  these  islands  also  in  the 
Catalan  map  of   1373,  and  in  that  of  Pizigani  of  the 
same  period  (1367,  1373). 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  of  England  that  one  Kob- 


Maps. 


PART  OF  THE  LAURENTIAN  PORTOLANO. 
[From  Major's  Prince  Henry.~] 

ert  Machin,  flying  from  England  to  avoid  pursuit  for  stealing 
a  wife,  accidentally  reached   the  island  of   Madeira.   Robert 
Here  disaster  overtook  Machin's  company,  but  some  Machin- 
of  his  crew  reached  Africa  in  a  boat  and  were  made  captives  by 
the  Moors.     In  1416,  the  Spaniards   sent  an  expedition  to  re 
deem  Christian  captives  held  by  these   same  Moors,  and,  while 
bringing  them  away,  the  Spanish  ship  was  overcome  by  a  Por 
tuguese  navigator,  Zarco,    and  among   his   prisoners  was  one 


88  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Morales,  who  had  heard,  as  was  reported,  of  the  experiences  of 
Machin.     Zarco,  a  little  later,  being  sent  by  Prince  Henry  of 
Porto  Santo    Portugal  to  the  coast  of  Guinea,  was  driven  out  to  sea, 
™dds™avd-eira  and  discovered  the  island  of  Porto  Santo ;  and  subse 
quently,  under  the  prompting  of  Morales,  he  rediscov 
ered  Madeira,   then  uninhabited.     This  was  in  1418  or  1419, 
and  though  there  are  some  divergences  in  the  different  forms 
of  the  story,  and  though  romance  and  anachronism  somewhat 
obscure  its  truth,  the  main  circumstances  are  fairly  discernible. 
This  discovery  was  the  beginning  of  the  revelations  which  the 
navigators  of  Prince  Henry  were  to  make.     A  few  years  later 
(1425)  he  dispatched  colonists  to  occupy  the  two  islands,  and 
among  them  was  a  gentleman  of  the  household,  Bar- 
streiiofam-    tolomeo  Perestrello,  whose  name,  in  a  descendant,  we 
shall  again  encounter  when,  near  the  close  of  the  cen 
tury,  we  follow  Columbus  himself  to  this  same  island  of  Porto 
Santo. 

It  is  conjectured  that  the  position  of  the  Azores  was  laid  down 
on  a  map  which,  brought  to  Portugal  from  Venice  in 
1428,  instigated  Prince  Henry  to  order  his  seamen  to 
Tediscover  those  islands.     That  they  are   laid   down   on  Val- 
sequa's  Catalan  map  of  1439  is  held  to  indicate  the  accomplish 
ment  of  the  prince's  purpose,  probably  in   1432,  though  it  took 
twenty  years  to  bring  the  entire  group  within  the  knowledge  of 
the  Portuguese. 

The  well-known  map  of  Andrea  Bianco  in  1436,  preserved 
Bianco's        *n  tne  Biblioteca  Marciana  at  Venice,  records  also  the 
map,  1436.      extent  of  supposition  at  that  date  respecting  the  isl 
and-studded  waste  of  the  Atlantic.     Between  this  date  and  the 
period  of  the  arrival  of  Columbus  in  Portugal,  the  best  known 
names  of  the  map  makers  of  the  Atlantic  are  those  of 
Valsequa  (1439),  Leardo  (1448,  1452,  1458),  Pareto 
(1455),  and  Fra  Mauro  (1459).     This  last  there  will  be  occa 
sion  to  mention  later. 

In  1452,  Pedro  de  Valasco,  in  sailing  about  Fayal  westerly, 
seeing  and  following  a  flight  of  birds,  had  discovered 
the  island  of  Flores.     From  what  Columbus  says  in 
the  journal  of  his  first  voyage,  forty  years  later,  this  tracking  of 
the  flight  of  birds  was  not  an  unusual  way,  in  these  early  ex 
ploring  days,  of  finding  new  islands. 


THE  ALLUREMENTS   OF  PORTUGAL. 


89 


Thus  it  was  that  down  to  a  period  a  very  little  later  than 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  Portuguese  had  been  ac- 


MAP  OF    ANDREA   BIANCO. 
[From  Allgem.  Geog.  Ephemeriden,  Weimar,  1807.] 

customing  themselves  to  these  hazards  of  the  open  ocean.  With 
out  knowing  it  they  had,  in  the  discovery  of  Flores,  actually 
reached  the  farthest  land  westerly,  which  could  in  the  better 


90  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

knowledge  of  later  years  be  looked  upon  as  the  remotest  out 
post  of  the  Old  World. 

There  was,  as  they  thought,  a  much  larger  cosmographical 
The  African  problem  lying  to  the  south,  —  a  route  to  India  by  a 

route  to  IT       A  ?  • 

India.  supposable  Atrican  cape. 

For  centuries  the  Orient  had  been  the  dream  of  the  philoso 
pher  and  the  goal  of  the  merchant.  Everything  in  the  East  was 
thought  to  be  on  a  larger  scale  than  in  Europe,  —  metals  were 
more  abundant,  pearls  were  rarer,  spices  were  richer,  plants 
were  nobler,  animals  were  statelier.  Everything  but  man  was 
more  lordly.  He  had  been  fed  there  so  luxuriously  that  he  was 
believed  to  have  dwindled  in  character.  Europe  was  the  world 
of  active  intelligence,  the  inheritor  of  Greek  and  Roman  power, 
and  its  typical  man  belonged  naturally  with  the  grander  ex 
ternals  of  the  East.  There  was  a  fitness  in  bringing  the  better 
man  and  the  better  nature  into  such  relations  that  the  one 
should  sustain  and  enjoy  the  other. 

The  earliest  historical  record  of  the  peoples  of  Western  Asia 
with  China  goes  back,  according;  to  Yule,  to  the  sec- 

China 

ond  century  before  Christ.  Three  hundred  years  later 
we  find  the  first  trace  of  Roman  intercourse  (A.  D.  166).  With 
India  China  had  some  trade  by  sea  as  early  as  the  fourth  cen 
tury,  and  with  Babylonia  possibly  in  the  fifth  century.  There 
were  Christian  Nestorian  missionaries  there  as  early  as  the 
eighth  century,  and  some  of  their  teachings  had  been  found 
there  by  Western  travelers  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  cen 
turies.  The  communication  of  Ceylon  with  China  was  revived 
in  the  thirteenth  century. 

It  was  in  the  twelfth  century,  under  the  Mongol  dynasty,  that 

China  became  first  generally  known  in  Europe,  under 

the  name  of  Cathay,  and  then  for  the  first  time  the 
Western  nations  received  travelers'  stories  of  the  kingdom  of 
the  great  Khan.  Two  Franciscans,  one  an  Italian,  Piano  Car- 
pini,  the  other  a  Fleming,  Rubruquis,  sent  on  missions  for  the 
Church,  returned  to  Europe  respectively  in  1247  and  1255.  It 
was  not,  however,  till  Marco  Polo  returned  from  his  visit  to 

Kublai  Khan,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 

Marco  Polo.  ..  „  .    -p, 

tury,  that  a  new  enlargement  of  the  ideas  ot  Europe 
respecting  the  far  Orient  took  place.  The  influence  of  his  mar- 


THE  ALLUREMENTS   OF  PORTUGAL.  91 

velous  tales  continued  down  to  the  days  of  Columbus,  and  when 
the  great  discoverer  came  on  the  scene  it  was  to  find  the  public 
mind  occupied  with  the  hopes  of  reaching  these  Eastern  realms 
by  way  of  the  south.  The  experimental  and  accidental  voy- 
agings  of  the  Portuguese  on  the  Atlantic  were  held  to  be  but 
preliminary  to  a  steadier  progression  down  the  coast  of  Africa. 
Whether  the  ancients  had  succeeded  in  circumnavigating 
Africa  is  a  question  never  likely  to  be  definitely  set- 

,     ,  ,  .  .  •    -L    J    l.       T>       T.  •        The  African 

tied,  and  opposing  views,  as  weighed  by  Bunbury  in  route  and 

1  .         TT-    *  r>  -  /~i  7  i        the  ancients. 

his  History  of  Ancient  (jreography,  are  too  evenly 
balanced  to  allow  either  side  readily  to  make  conquest  of  judi 
cial  minds.  It  is  certain  that  Hipparchus  had  denied  the  possi 
bility  of  it,  and  had  supposed  the  Indian  Ocean  a  land-bound 
sea,  Africa  extending  at  the  south  so  as  to  connect  with  a  south 
ern  prolongation  of  eastern  Asia.  This  view  had  been  adopted 
by  Ptolemy,  whose  opinions  were  dominating  at  this  time  the 
Western  mind.  Nevertheless,  that  Africa  ended  in  a  southern 
cape  seems  to  have  been  conceived  of  by  those  who  The  African 
doubted  the  authority  of  Ptolemy  early  enough  for  cape> 
Sanuto,  in  1306,  to  portray  such  a  cape  in  his  planisphere.  If 
Sanuto  really  knew  of  its  existence  the  source  of  his  knowledge 
is  a  subject  for  curious  speculation.  Not  unlikely  an  African 
cape  may  have  been  surmised  by  the  Venetian  sailors,  who, 
frequenting  the  Mediterranean  coasts  of  Asia  Minor,  came  in 
contact  with  the  Arabs.  These  last  may  have  cherished  the 
traditions  of  maritime  explorers  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
who  may  have  already  discovered  the  great  southern  cape,  per 
haps  without  passing  it. 

Navarrete  records  that  as  early  as  1393  a  company  had  been 
formed  in  Andalusia  and  Biscay  for  promoting  dis 
coveries  down  the  coast  of  Africa.     It  was  an  effort  coast  dL 

,  ,  ,  .     .  .     ,         covery, 1393. 

to  secure  in  the  end  such  a  route  to  Asia  as  might 
enable  the  people  of  the  Iberian  peninsula  to  share  with  those 
of  the  Italian  the  trade  with  the  East,  which  the  latter  had 
long  conducted  wholly  or  in  part  overland  from  the  Levant. 
The  port  of  Barcelona  had  indeed  a  share  in  this  opulent  com 
merce  ;  but  its  product  for  Spain  was  insignificant  in  compari 
son  with  that  for  Italy. 

The  guiding  spirit  in  this  new  habit  of  exploration  was  that 
scion  of  the  royal  family  of  Portugal  who  became  famous  even- 


92  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

tually  as  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator,  and  whose  biography 
has  been  laid  before  the  English  reader  within  twenty 
Henry,  the     years,  abundantly  elucidated  by  the  careful  hand  of 
Eichard  H.  Major.     The  Prince  had  assisted  King 
Jo^o  in  the  attack  on  the  Moors  at  Cetita,  in  1415,  and  this 
success  had  opened  to  the  Prince  the  prospect  of  possessing  the 
Guinea  coast,  and  of  ultimately  finding  and  passing  the  antici 
pated  cape  at  the  southern  end  of  Africa. 

This  was  the  mission  to  which  the  Prince  early  in  the  fif 
teenth  century  gave  himself.  His  ships  began  to  crawl  down 
the  western  Barbary  coast,  and  each  season  added  to  the  ex- 
cape  Boja-  tent  °^  their  explorations,  but  Cape  Bojador  for  a 
while  blocked  their  way,  just  as  it  had  stayed  other 
hardy  adventurers  even  before  the  birth  of  Henry.  "  We  may 
wonder,"  says  Helps,  "  that  he  never  took  personal  command 
of  any  of  his  expeditions,  but  he  may  have  thought  that  he 
served  the  cause  better  by  remaining  at  home,  and  forming  a 
centre  whence  the  electric  energy  of  enterprise  was  communi 
cated  to  many  discoverers  and  then  again  collected  from  them." 
Meanwhile,  Prince  Henry  had  received  from  his  father  the 
government  of  Algaroe,  and  he  selected  the  secluded  promon 
tory  of  Sagres,  jutting  into  the  sea  at  the  southwest 
ern  extremity  of  Portugal,  as  his  home,  going  here  in 
1418,  or  possibly  somewhat  later.  Whether  he  so  organized  his 
efforts  as  to  establish  here  a  school  of  navigation  is  in  dispute, 
but  it  is  probably  merely  a  question  of  what  constitutes  a 
school.  There  seems  no  doubt  that  he  built  an  observatory 
and  drew  about  him  skillful  men  in  the  nautical  arts,  including 
a  somewhat  famous  Majorcan,  Jayme.  He  and  his  staff  of 
workers  took  seamanship  as  they  found  it,  with  its  cylindrical 
charts,  and  so  developed  it  that  it  became  in  the  hands  of  the 
Portuguese  the  evidence  of  the  highest  skill  then  attainable. 

Seamanship  as  then  practiced  has  become  an  interesting  study. 
Art  of  sea-  Under  the  guidance  of  Humboldt,  in  his  remarkable 
manship.  work?  the  Examen  Critique,  in  which  he  couples  a 
consideration  of  the  nautical  astronomy  with  the  needs  of  this 
age  of  discovery,  we  find  an  easy  path  among  the  intricacies  of 
the  art.  These  complications  have,  in  special  aspects,  been 
further  elucidated  by  Navarrete,  Margry,  and  a  recent  German 
writer,  Professor  Ernst  Mayer. 


THE  ALLUREMENTS    OF  PORTUGAL.  93 

It  was  just  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  (1295)  that 
the  Arte  de  Navegar  of  Raymond  Lully,  or  Lullius,  Lully»s  Arte 
gave  mariners  a  handbook,  which,  so  far  as  is  made  deNave9ar- 
apparent,  was  not  superseded  by  a  better  even  in  the  time  of 
Columbus. 

Another  nautical   text-book   at  this  time   was  a  treatise  by 
John  Holy  wood,  a  Yorkshire  man,  who  needs  to  be  a 
little  dressed  up  when  we  think  of  him  as  the  Latin 
ized  Sacrobosco.     His  Sphera  Mundi  was  not  put  into  type  till 


Sacrobosco. 


PRINCE   HENRY   THE   NAVIGATOR. 
[From  a  Chronicle  in  the  National  Library  at  Paris.] 

1472,  just  before  Columbia's  arrival  in  Portugal,  —  a  work 
which  is  mainly  paraphrased  from  Ptolemy's  Almagest.  It 
was  one  of  the  books  which,  by  law,  the  royal  cosmographer  of 
Spain,  at  a  later  day,  was  directed  to  expound  in  his  courses  of 
instruction. 

The  loadstone  was  known  in  western  and  northern  Europe  as 
early  as  the   eleventh   century,  and  for  two  or  three  The  load- 
centuries  there  are  found  in  books  occasional  refer-  8 
ences  to  the  magnet.     We  are  in   much  doubt,  however,  as  to 


94  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

the  prevalence  of  its  use  in  navigation.  If  we  are  to  believe 
some  writers  on  the  subject,  it  was  known  to  the  Norsemen  as 
early  as  the  seventh  century.  Its  use  in  the  Levant,  derived, 
doubtless,  from  the  peoples  navigating  the  Indian  Ocean,  goes 
back  to  an  antiquity  not  easily  to  be  limited. 

By  the  year  1200,  a  knowledge  of  the  magnetic  needle,  coming 
Magnetic  from  China  through  the  Arabs,  had  become  common 
enough  in  Europe  to  be  mentioned  in  literature,  and 
in  another  century  its  use  did  not  escape  record  by  the  chroni 
clers  of  maritime  progress.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  the  ad 
venturous  spirit  of  the  Catalans  and  the  Normans  stretched  the 
scope  of  their  observations  from  the  Hebrides  on  the  north  to 
the  west  coast  of  tropical  Africa  on  the  south,  and  to  the  west 
ward,  two  fifths  across  the  Atlantic  to  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Azores,  —  voyages  made  safely  under  the  direction  of  the 
magnet. 

There  was  not  much  difficulty  in  computing  latitude  either  by 
the  altitude  of  the  polar  star  or  by  using  tables  of  the 
tionsfor  sun's  declination,  which  the  astronomers  of  the  time 
were  equal  to  calculating.  The  astrolabe  used  for 
gauging  the  altitude  was  a  simple  instrument,  which  had  been 
long  in  use  among  the  Mediterranean  seamen,  and  had  been  de 
scribed  by  Raymond  Lullius  in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Before  Columbus's  time  it  had  been  somewhat  im- 
The  proved  by  Johannes  Miiller  of  Kb'nigsberg,  who  be- 

astroiabe.  came  better  known  from  the  Latin  form  of  his  native 
town  as  Regiomontanus,  He  had,  perhaps,  the  best  reputation 
in  his  day  as  a  nautical  astronomer,  and  Humboldt  has  explained 
the  importance  of  his  labors  in  the  help  which  he  afforded  in  an 
age  of  discovery. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  navigators  of  Prince  Henry,  and 
Dead  even  Columbus,  practiced  no  artificial  method  for  as- 

reckoning,  certaining  the  speed  of  their  ships.  With  vessels  of 
the  model  of  those  days,  no  great  rapidity  was  possible,  and  the 
utmost  a  ship  could  do  under  favorable  circumstances  was  not 
usually  beyond  four  miles  an  hour.  The  hourglass  gave  them 
the  time,  and  afforded  the  multiple  according  as  the  eye  ad 
justed  the  apparent  number  of  miles  which  the  ship  was  making 
hour  by  hour.  This  was  the  method  by  which  Columbus,  in 
1492,  calculated  the  distances,  which  he  recorded  day  by  day  in 


THE  ALLUREMENTS   OF  PORTUGAL.  95 

his  journal.  Of  course  the  practiced  seaman  made  allowances 
for  drift  in  the  ocean  currents,  and  met  with  more  or  less  intel 
ligence  the  various  deterrent  elements  in  beating  to  windward. 

Humboldt,  with  his  keen  insight  into  all  such  problems  con 
cerning  their  relations  to  oceanic  discoveries,  tells  us  The  sea. 
in  his  Cosmos  how  he  has  made  the  history  of  the  log  man's  log> 
a  subject  of  special  investigation  in  the  sixth  volume  of  his 


THE  ASTROLABE   OF   REGIOMONTANUS. 

Examen  Critique  de  VHistoire  de  la  Geographic,  which,  unfor- 
tunately,  the  world  has  never  seen ;  but  he  gives,  apparently,  the 
results  in  his  later  Cosmos. 

It  is  perhaps  surprising  that  the  Mediterranean  peoples  had 
not  perceived  a  method,  somewhat  clumsy  as  it  was,  which  had 
been  in  use  by  the  Komans  in  the  time  of  the  republic.  Though 
the  habit  of  throwing  the  log  is  still,  in  our  day,  kept  up  on 
ocean  steamers,  I  find  that  experienced  commanders  quite  as 
willingly  depend  on  the  report  of  their  engineers  as  to  the 
number  of  revolutions  which  the  wheel  or  screw  has  made  in 
the  twenty-four  hours.  In  this  they  were  anticipated  by  these 


96 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


republicans  of  Rome  who  attached  wheels  of  four  feet  diameter 
to  the  sides  of  their  ships  and  let  the  passage  of  the  water  turn 
them.  Their  revolutions  were  then  recorded  by  a  device  which 
threw  a  pebble  into  a  tally-pot  for  each  revolution. 


REGIOMONTANUS'S  ASTROLABE,   1468. 

[After  an  original  in  the  museum  at  Nuremberg,  shown  in  E.  Mayer's  Die  Hilfsmittel  der 
Schiffahrtskunde.'] 

From  that  time,  so  far  as  Humboldt  could  ascertain,  down  to 
a  period  later  than  Columbus,  and  certainly  after  the  revival 
of  long  ocean  voyages  by  the  Catalans,  Portuguese,  and  Nor 
mans,  there  seems  to  have  been  no  skill  beyond  that  of  the  eyes 
in  measuring  the  speed  of  vessels.  After  the  days  of  Columbus, 
it  is  only  when  we  come  to  the  voyages  of  Magellan  that  we  find 
any  mention  of  such  a  device  as  a  log,  which  consisted,  as  his 


THE  ALLUREMENTS   OF  PORTUGAL.  97 

chronicler  explains,  of  some  arrangements  of  cog-wheels  and 
chains  carried  on  the  poop. 

Such  were  in  brief  the  elements  of  seamanship  in  which 
Prince  Henry  the  Navigator  caused  his  sailors  to  be 
instructed,  and  which  more  or  less  governed  the  in-  Henry's 
strumentalities  employed  in  his  career  of  discovery. 
He  was  a  man  who,  as  his  motto  tells  us,  wished,  and  was  able, 
to  do  well.  He  was  shadowed  with  few  infirmities  of  spirit. 
He  joined  with  the  pluck  of  his  half-English  blood  —  for  he  was 
the  grandson  of  John  of  Gaunt  —  a  training  for  endurance  de 
rived  in  his  country's  prolonged  contests  with  the  Moor.  He 
was  the  staple  and  lofty  exemplar  of  this  great  age  of  discovery. 
He  was  more  so  than  Columbus,  and  rendered  the  adventitious 
career  of  the  Genoese  possible.  He  knew  how  to  manage  men, 
and  stuck  devotedly  to  his  work.  He  respected  his  helpers  too 
much  to  drug  them  with  deceit,  and  there  is  a  straightforward 
honesty  of  purpose  in  his  endeavors.  He  was  a  trainer  of  men, 
and  they  grew  courageous  under  his  instruction.  To  sail  into 
the  supposed  burning  zone  beyond  Cape  Bojador,  and  to  face  the 
destruction  of  life  which  was  believed  to  be  inevitable,  required 
a  courage  quite  as  conspicuous  as  to  cleave  the  floating  verdure 
of  the  Sargasso  Sea,  on  a  western  passage.  It  must  be  con 
fessed  that  he  shared  with  Columbus  those  proclivities  which 
in  the  instigators  of  African  slavery  so  easily  slipped  into 
cruelty.  They  each  believed  there  was  a  merit,  if  a  heathen's 
soul  be  at  stake,  in  not  letting  commiseration  get  the  better  of 
piety. 

It  was  not  till  1434  that  Prince  Henry's  captains  finally  passed 
Cape  Bojador.     It  was  a  strenuous  and  daring  effort 
in  the  face  of  conceded  danger,  and  under  the  impulse  dor  passed, 
of  the  Prince's  earnest  urging.     Gil  Eaunes  returned 
from  this  accomplished  act  a  hero  in  the  eyes  of  his  master. 
Had  it  ever  been  passed  before  ?    Not  apparently  in  any  way  to 
affect  the  importance  of  this  Portuguese  enterprise.     We  can  go 
back  indeed,  to  the  expedition  of  Hanno  the  Carthaginian,  and 
in  the  commentaries  of  Carl  Miiller  and  Vivien  de  St.  Martin 
track  that  navigator  outside  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and  follow 
him  southerly  possibly  to  Cape  Verde  or  its  vicinity  ;  and  this, 
if  Major's  arguments  are  to  be  accepted,  is  the  only  antecedent 
venture  beyond  Cape  Bojador,  though  there  have  been  claims  set 


98 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


SKETCH  MAP  OF  AFRICAN 
DISCOVERY. 


up  for  the  Genoese,  the  Catalans,  and  the  Dieppese.     That  the 
,  map  of  Marino  Sanuto  in  1306,  and 

the  so-called  Laurentian  portolano  of 
1351,  both  of  which  establish  a  vague 
southerly  limit  to  Africa,  rather  give 
expression  to  a  theory  than  chronicle 
the  experience  of  navigators  is  the 
opinion  of  Major.  It  is  of  course  pos 
sible  that  some  indefinite  knowledge  of 
oriental  tracking  of  the  eastern  coast 
of  Africa,  and  developing  its  terminal 
shape  southerly,  may  have  passed,  as 
already  intimated,  with  other  nautical 
knowledge,  by  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Med 
iterranean  peoples.  To  attempt  to  set 
tle  the  question  of  any  circumnaviga 
tion  of  Africa  before  the  days  of  Diaz 
and  Da  Gama,  by  the  evidence  of  ear 
lier  maps,  makes  us  confront  very  closely  geographical  theories 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  a  possible  actual  knowledge 
filtered  through  the  Arabs.  All  this  renders  it  imprudent  to 
assume  any  tone  of  certainty  in  the  matter. 

The  captains  of  Prince  Henry  now  began,  season  by  season, 
to  make  a  steady  advance.  The  Pope  had  granted  to  the  Portu 
guese  monarchy  the  exclusive  right  to  discovered  lands  on  this 
unexplored  route  to  India,  and  had  enjoined  all  others  not  to  in 
terfere. 

In  1441  the  Prince's  ships  passed  beyond  Cape  Blanco,  and 
Cape  Bianco  ^n  succeeding  years  they  still  pushed  on  little  by  little, 
passed,  1441.  kringing  home  in  1442  some  negroes  for  slaves,  the 
first  which  were  seen  in  Europe,  as  Helps  supposes,  though 
this  is  a  matter  of  some  doubt. 

Cape  Yerde  had  been  reached  by  Diniz  Dyaz   (Fernandez) 
in  1445,  and  the  discovery  that  the  coast  beyond  had 

Cape  Verde  ITT 

reached,  a  general  easterly  trend  did  much  to  encourage  the 
Portuguese,  with  the  illusory  hope  that  the  way  to 
India  was  at  last  opened.  They  had  by  this  time  passed  be 
yond  the  countries  of  the  Moors,  and  were  coasting  along  a 
country  inhabited  by  negroes. 

In  1455,  the  Venetian  Cadamosto,  a  man  who  proved  that  he 


THE  ALLUREMENTS    OF  PORTUGAL. 


99 


could  write  intelligently  of  what  he  saw,  was  induced  by  Prince 
Henry  to  conduct  a  new  expedition,  which  was  led  to  CadamoBto. 
the  Gambia ;  so  that  Europeans  saw  for  the  first  time  1 
the  constellation  of  the  Southern  Cross.     In  the  following  year, 
still  patronized  by   Prince  Henry,   who  fitted    out  one  of   his 
vessels,   Cadamosto  discovered  the  Cape  Verde  Islands,   or  at 
least  his  narrative  would   indicate  that  he  did.     By  Cape  Verdc 
comparison  of  documents,  however,  Major  has  made  it  Islands- 
pretty  clear  that  Cadamosto  arrogated  to  himself  a  glory  which 
belonged  to  another,  and  that  the  true  discoverer  of  the  Cape 
Verde  Islands  was  Diogo  Gomez,  in  1460.     It  was  on  this  sec 
ond  voyage  that  Cadamosto  passed  Cape  Eoxo,  and  reached 
the  Rio  Grande. 


FRA   MAURO'S   WORLD,  1439. 


In  1457,  Prince  Henry  sent,  by  order  of  his  nephew  and 
sovereign,  Alfonso  V.,  the  maps  of  his  captains  to  Fra  Mauro's 
Venice,  to  have  them  combined  in  a  large  mappe-  maps' 1457' 


too 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


monde ;  and  Fra  Mauro  was  entrusted  with  the  making  of  it,  in 
which  he    was  assisted  by  Andrea  Bianco,  a  famous  cartog* 


TOMB   OF   PRINCE   HENRY   AT   BATALHA. 
[From  Major's  Prince  Henry.~] 

rapher  of  the  time.     This  great  map  came  to  Portugal  the  year 
before  the  Prince  died,  and  it  stands  as  his  final  rec- 
ord,  left  behind  him  at  his  death,  November  13,  1460, 
to  attest  his  constancy  and  leadership.     The  pecuni- 


THE   ALLUREMENTS    OF  PORTUGAL. 


101 


ary  sacrifices   which  he  had  so  greatly  incurred  in  his  enter 
prises  had  fatally  embarrassed  his  estate.     His  death  was  not 
as  Columbus's  was,  an  obscura 
tion  that  no  one  noted ;  his  life 
was  prolonged  in  the  school  of 
seamanship  which  he  had  cre 
ated. 

The  Prince's  enthusiasm  in 
his  belief  that  there  was  a  great 
southern  point  of  Africa  had 
been  imparted  to  all  his  follow 
ers.  Fra  Mauro  gave  it  cre 
dence  in  his  map  by  an  indica 
tion  that  an  Indian  junk  from 
the  East  had  rounded  the  cape 
with  the  sun  in  1420.  In  this 
Mauro  map  the  easterly  trend 
of  the  coast  beyond  Cape  Verde 
is  adequately  shown,  but  it  is 
made  only  as  the  northern 
shore  of  a  deep  gulf  indenting 
the  continent.  The  more  south 
ern  parts  are  simply  forced  into 
a  shape  to  suit  and  fill  out  the 
circular  dimensions  of  the  map. 

Within  a  few  years  after 
Henry's  death  —  though  some 
place  it  earlier  —  the  explora 
tions  had  been  pushed  to  Si 
erra  Leone  and  be-  sierra  Leone. 

yond      Cape     Mezu-  G 

rada.     When  the  revenues  of 

the  Gold  Coast  were  farmed  out 

in  1469,  it  was  agreed  that  dis-  STATUE  OF  PRINCE  HENRY  AT  BELEM. 

covery  should  be  pushed  a  him-  [From  Major'8  Prince  Hen^ 

dred  leagues  farther  south   annually  ;  and  by  1474,  when  the 

contract  expired,  Fernam  Gomez,  who  had  taken  it, 

had  already  found  the  gold  dust  region  of  La  Mina, 

which  Columbus,  in  1492,  was   counseled  by  Spain  to  avoid 

while  searching  for  his  western  lands. 


.102  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

This,  then,  was  the  condition  of  Portuguese  seamanship  and 
of  its  exploits  when  Columbus,  some  time,  probably,  in  1473, 
reached  Portugal.  He  found  that  country  so  content  with  the 
rich  product  of  the  Guinea  coast  that  it  was  some  years  later 
before  the  Portuguese  began  to  push  still  farther  to  the  south. 
The  desire  to  extend  the  Christian  faith  to  heathen,  often  on 
the  lips  of  the  discoverers  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  never  so 
powerful  but  that  gold  and  pearls  made  them  forget  it. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

COLUMBUS   IN   PORTUGAL. 

IT  has  been  held   by  Navarrete,  Irving,  and  other  writers  of 
the  older  school  that  Columbus  first  arrived  in  Portu-  Dafceofhis 
gal  in  1470 ;  and  his  coming  has  commonly  been  con-  arnval- 
nected  with  a  naval  battle   near  Lisbon,   in  which  he  escaped 
from  a  burning  ship  by  swimming  to  land  with  the  aid  of  an 
oar.     It  is  easily  proved,  however,  that  notarial  entries  in  Italy 
show  him  to  have  been  in  that  country  on  August  7,  1473.    We 
may,  indeed,    by  some  stretch   of  inference,  allow  the 
old  date  to  be  sustained,  by  supposing  that  he  really 
was  domiciled  in  Lisbon  as  early  as  1470,  but  made  occasional 
visits  to  his  motherland  for  the  next  three  or  four  years. 

The  naval  battle,  in  its  details,  is  borrowed  by  the  Historie 
of  1571  from  the  JRerum  Venitiarum  ab  Urbe  Condita  supposed  * 
of  Sabellicus.  This  author  makes  Christopher  Colum-  navalbattle- 
bus  a  son  of  the  younger  corsair  Colombo,  who  commanded  in 
the  fight,  which  could  not  have  happened  either  in  1470,  the 
year  usually  given,  or  in  1473-74,  the  time  better  determined 
for  Colum  bus's  arrival  in  Portugal,  since  this  particular  action 
is  known  to  have  taken  place  on  August  22,  1485.  Those  who 
defend  the  Historie,  like  D'Avezac,  claim  that  its  account  sim 
ply  confounds  the  battle  of  1485  with  an  earlier  one,  and  that 
the  story  of  the  oar  must  be  accepted  as  an  incident  of  this  sup- 
posable  anterior  fight.  The  action  in  1485  took  place  when  the 
French  corsair,  Casaneuve  or  Colombo,  intercepted  some  richly 
laden  Venetian  galleys  between  Lisbon  and  Cape  St.  Vincent. 
History  makes  no  mention  of  any  earlier  action  of  similar  im 
port  which  could  have  been  the  occasion  of  the  escape  by  swim 
ming  ;  and  to  sustain  the  Historie  by  supposing  such  is  a  sim 
ple,  perhaps  allowable,  hypothesis. 

Rawdon  Brown,  in  the  introduction  to  his  volumes  of  the 
Calendar  of  State  Papers  in  the  Archives  of  Venice^  has  con- 


104  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

nected  Columbus  with  this  naval  combat,  but,  as  he  later  ac 
knowledged  to  Harrisse,  solely  on  the  authority  of  the  Historic. 
Irving  has  rejected  the  story.  There  seems  no  occasion  to 
doubt  its  inconsistencies  and  anachronisms,  and,  once  discarded, 

we  are  thrown  back  upon  the  notarial  evidence  in  Italy, 
rival  in  by  which  we  may  venture  to  accept  the  date  of  1473- 

74  as  that  of  the  entrance  of  Columbus  into  Portugal. 
Irving,  though  he  discards  the  associated  incidents,  accepts  the 
earlier  date.  Nevertheless,  the  date  of  1473-74  is  not  taken 
without  some  hazard.  As  it  has  been  of  late  ascertained  that 
when  Columbus  left  Portugal  it  was  not  for  good,  as  was  sup 
posed,  so  it  may  yet  be  discovered  that  it  was  from  some  earlier- 
adventure  that  the  buoyancy  of  an  oar  took  him  to  the  land. 
This  coming  of  an  Italian  to  Portugal  to  throw  in  his  lot 

with  a  foreign  people  leads  the  considerate  observer  to 

Italians  as 

maritime       reflect  on  the  strange  vicissitudes  which  caused  Italy 

discoverers.  f         .   ,  , 

to  lurnisn  to  the  western  nations  so  many  conspicuous 
leaders  in  the  great  explorations  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth 
centuries,  without  profiting  in  the  slightest  degree  through  terri 
torial  return.  Cadamosto  and  Cabot,  the  Venetians,  Columbus, 
the  Genoese,  Vespucius  and  Verrazano,  the  Florentines,  are,  on 
the  whole,  the  most  important  of  the  great  captains  of  dis 
covery  in  this  virgin  age  of  maritime  exploration  through  the 
dark  waters  of  the  Atlantic ;  and  yet  Spain  and  Portugal, 
France  and  England,  were  those  who  profited  by  their  genius 
and  labors. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that,  during  the  years  which  Columbus 
spent  in  Portugal,  there  is  not  a  single  act  of  his  life  that  can 
be  credited  with  an  exact  date,  and  few  can  be  placed  beyond 
cavil  by  undisputed  documentary  evidence. 

It  is  the  usual  story,  given  by  his  earliest  Italian  biographers, 
occupation  Gtallo  and  his  copiers,  that  Columbus  had  found  his 
in  Portugal.  krother  Bartholomew  already  domiciled  in  Portugal, 
and  earning  a  living  by  making  charts  and  selling  books,  and 
that  Christopher  naturally  fell,  for  a  while,  into  similar  occupa 
tions.  He  was  not,  we  are  also  told,  unmindful  of  his  father's 
distresses  in  Italy,  when  he  disposed  of  his  small  earnings.  We 
likewise  know  the  names  of  a  few  of  his  fellow  Genoese  settled 
in  Lisbon  in  traffic,  because  he  speaks  of  their  kindnesses  to 
him,  and  the  help  which  they  had  given  him  (1482)  in  what 
would  appear  to  have  been  commercial  ventures. 


COLUMBUS   IN  PORTUGAL.  105 

It  seems  not  unlikely  that  he  had  not  been  long  in  the  coun 
try  when  the  incident  occurred  at  Lisbon  which  led  to  his 
marriage,  which  is  thus  recorded  in  the  Historic. 

During  his  customary  attendance  upon  divine  worship  in  the 
Convent  of  All  Saints,  his  devotion  was  observed  by  Hig  mar. 
one  of  the  pensioners  of  the  monastery,  who  sought  riage> 
him  with  such  expressions  of  affection  that  he  easily  yielded  to 
her  charms.  This  woman,  Felipa  Moniz  by  name,  is  said  to 
have  been  a  daughter,  by  his  wife  Caterina  Visconti,  of  Bar- 
tolomeo  Perestrello,  a  gentleman  of  Italian  origin,  who  is  asso 
ciated  with  the  colonization  of  Madeira  and  Porto  Santo.  From 
anything  which  Columbus  himself  says  and  is  preserved  to  us, 
we  know  nothing  more  than  that  he  desired  in  his  will  that 
masses  should  be  said  for  the  repose  of  her  soul ;  for-  she  was 
then  long  dead,  and,  as  Diego  tells  us,  was  buried  in  Lisbon. 
We  learn  her  name  for  the  first  time  from  Diego's  will,  in  1509, 
and  this  is  absolutely  all  the  documentary  evidence  which  we 
have  concerning  her.  Oviedo  and  the  writers  who  wrote  be 
fore  the  publication  of  the  Historie  had  only  said  that  Colum 
bus  had  married  in  Portugal,  without  further  particulars. 

But  the  Historie,  with  Las  Casas  following  it,  does  not  wholly 
satisfy  our  curiosity,  neither  does  Oviedo,  later,  nor  Thepere-  ' 
Goiuara  and  Benzoni,  who  copy  from  Oviedo.  There  strellos- 
arises  a  question  of  the  identity  of  this  Bartolomeo  Perestrello, 
among  three  of  the  name  of  three  succeeding  generations. 
Somewhere  about  1420,  or  later,  the  eldest  of  this  line  was  made 
the  first  governor  of  Porto  Santo,  after  the  island  had  been  dis 
covered  by  one  of  the  expeditions  which  had  been  down  the 
African  coast.  It  is  of  him  the  story  goes  that,  taking  some 
rabbits  thither,  their  progeny  so  quickly  possessed  the  island 
that  its  settlers  deserted  it !  Such  genealogical  information  as 
can  be  acquired  of  this  earliest  Perestrello  is  against  the  sup 
position  of  his  being  the  father  of  Felipa  Moniz,  but  rather 
indicates  that  by  a  second  wife,  Isabel  Moniz  by  name,  he  had 
the  second  Bartolomeo,  who  in  turn  became  the  father  of  our 
Felipa  Moniz.  The  testimony  of  Las  Casas  seems  to  favor  this 
view.  If  this  is  the  Bartolomeo  who,  having  attained  his  ma 
jority,  was  assigned  to  the  captaincy  of  Porto  Santo  in  1473, 
it  could  hardly  be  that  a  daughter  would  have  been  old  enough 
to  marry  in  1474-75. 


106  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  first  Bartolomeo,  if  he  was  the  father-in-law  of  Colum. 
bus,  seems  to  have  died  in  1457,  and  was  succeeded  in  1458,  in 
command  of  the  island  of  Porto  Santo,  by  another  son-in-law, 
Pedro  Correa  da  Cunha,  who  married  a  daughter  of  his  first 
marriage,  —  or  at  least  that  is  one  version  of  this  genealogical 
complication,  —  and  who  was  later  succeeded  in  1473  by  the 
second  Bartolomeo. 

The  Count  Bernardo  Pallastrelli,  a  modern  member  of  the 
family,  has  of  late  years,  in  his  H  Suocero  e  la  Moglie  di  Oris- 
toforo  Colombo  (2d  ed.,  Piacenza,  1876),  attempted  to  identify 
the  kindred  of  the  wife  of  Columbus.  He  has  examined  the 
views  of  Harrisse,  who  is  on  the  whole  inclined  to  believe  that 
the  wife  of  Columbus  was  a  daughter  of  one  Vasco  Gill  Moiiiz, 
whose  sister  had  married  the  Perestrello  of  the  Historie  story. 
The  successive  wills  of  Diego  Columbus,  it  may  be  observed, 
call  her  in  one  (1509)  Philippa  Moiiiz,  and  in  the  other  (1523) 
Philippa  Mtmiz,  without  the  addition  of  Perestrello.  The  gen 
ealogical  table  of  the  count's  monograph,  on  the  other  hand, 
makes  Felipa  to  be  the  child  of  Isabella  Moiiiz,  who  was  the 
second  wife  of  Bartolomeo  Pallastrelli,  the  son  of  Felipo,  who 
came  to  Portugal  some  time  after  1371,  from  Plaisance,  in  Italy. 
Bartolomeo  had  been  one  of  the  household  of  Prince  Henry, 
and  had  been  charged  by  him  with  founding  a  colony  at  Porto 
Santo,  in  1425,  over  which  island  he  was  long  afterward  (1446) 
made  governor.  We  must  leave  it  as  a  question  involved  in 
much  doubt. 

The  issue  of  this  marriage  was  one  son,  Diego,  but  there  is 
no  distinct  evidence  as  to  the  date  of  his  birth.  Sun- 

Columbus's  .  . 

son  Diego  dry  incidents  go  to  show  that  it  was  somewhere  be 
tween  1475  and  1479.  Columbus's  marriage  to  Dona 
Felipa  had  probably  taken  place  at  Lisbon,  and  not  before 
1474  at  the  earliest,  a  date  not  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the 
year  (1473-74)  now  held  to  be  that  of  his  arrival  in  Portu 
gal.  It  is  supposed  that  it  was  while  Columbus  was  living  at 
Porto  Santo,  where  his  wife  had  some  property,  that  Diego  was 
born,  though  Harrisse  doubts  if  any  evidence  can  be  adduced 
to  support  such  a  statement  beyond  a  sort  of  conjecture  on  Las 
Casas's  part,  derived  from  something  he  thought  he  remem 
bered  Diego  to  have  told  him. 

The  story  of  Columbus's  marriage,  as  given  in  the  Historie 


COLUMBUS   IN  PORTUGAL.  107 

and  followed  by  Oviedo,  couples  with  it  the  belief  that  it  was 
among  the  papers  of  his  dead  father-in-law,  Perestrel-  perestreiio'a 
lo,  that  Columbus  found  documents  and  maps  which  MSS> 
prompted  him  to  the  conception  of  a  western  passage  to  Asia. 
In  that  case,  this  may  perhaps  have  been  the  motive  which  in 
duced  him  to  draw  from  Paolo  Toscanelli  that  famous  letter, 
which  is  usually  held  to  have  had  an  important  influence  on  the 
mind  of  Columbus. 

The  fact  of  such  relationship  of  Columbus  with  Perestrello 
is  called  in  question,  and  so  is  another  incident  often  story  of  a 
related  by  the  biographers  of  Columbus.  This  is  that  ^cJiJS1* 
an  old  seaman  who  had  returned  from  an  adventur-  bu8'8  house- 
ous  voyage  westward  had  found  shelter  in  the  house  of  Colum 
bus,  and  had  died  there,  but  not  before  he  had  disclosed  to  him 
a  discovery  he  had  made  of  land  to  the  west.  This  story  is  not 
told  in  any  writer  that  is  now  known  before  Gomara  (1552), 
and  we  are  warned  by  Benzoni  that  in  Gomara's  hands  this 
pilot  story  was  simply  an  invention  "  to  diminish  the  immortal 
fame  of  Christopher  Columbus,  as  there  were  many  who  could 
not  endure  that  a  foreigner  and  Italian  should  have  acquired 
so  much  honor  and  so  much  glory,  not  only  for  the  Spanish 
kingdom,  but  also  for  the  other  nations  of  the  world." 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  under  the  impulse  of  the  young 
art  of  printing  men's  minds  had  at  this  time  become  more  alive 
than  they  had  been  for  centuries  to  the  search  for  cosmograph- 
ical  views.  The  old  geographers,  just  at  this  time,  were  one  by 
one  finding  their  way  into  print,  mainly  in  Italy,  while  the  in 
tercourse  of  that  country  with  Portugal  was  quickened  by  the 
attractions  of  the  Portuguese  discoveries.  While  Columbus  was 
still  in  Italy,  the  great  popularity  of  Pomponius  Mela  began 
with  the  first  edition  in  Latin,  which  was  printed  at 

.  .  .  .        Pomponius 

Milan  in   1471,  followed  soon  by   other  editions  in  Meia, 

Venice.     The  De  Situ  OMs  of  Strabo   had  already 

been  given  to  the  world  in  Latin   as  early  as  1469,  and  during 

the  next  few  years  this  text  was  several  times  reprinted  at  Rome 

and  Venice.     The  teaching  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  in  the 

astronomical  poem  of  Manilius,  long  a  favorite  with 

the  monks  of  the  Middle  Ages,  who  repeated  it  in  Soiinus, ' 

their  labored  script,  appeared  in  type  at  Nuremberg  at 

the  same  time.     The  Polyhistor  of  Soiinus  did  not  long  delay 


108  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

to  follow.  A  Latin  version  of  Ptolemy  had  existed  since  1409, 
but  it  was  later  than  the  rest  in  appearing  in  print,  and  bears 
the  date  of  1475.  These  were  the  newer  issues  of  the  Italian 
and  German  presses,  which  were  attracting  the  notice  of  the 
learned  in  this  country  of  the  new  activities  when  Columbus 
came  among  them,  and  they  were  having  their  palpable  effect. 

Just  when  we  know  not,  but  some  time  earlier  than  this,  Al- 
Toscaneiu's  fonso  V.  of  Portugal  had  sought,  through  the  medium 
theory.  Q£  tne  mon]j  Fernando  Martinez  (Fernam  Martins), 
to  know  precisely  what  was  meant  by  the  bruit  of  Toscanelli's 
theory  of  a  westward  way  to  India.  To  an  inquiry  thus  vouched 
Toscanelli  had  replied  to  Fernando  Martinez  (June  25,  1474), 
some  time  before  a  similar  inquiry  addressed  to  Toscanelli 
reached  Florence,  from  Columbus  himself,  and  through  the 
agency  of  an  aged  Florentine  merchant  settled  in  Lisbon.  It 
seems  probable  that  no  knowledge  of  Martinez's  correspon 
dence  with  Toscanelli  had  come  to  the  notice  of  Columbus  ;  and 
that  the  message  which  the  Genoese  sent  to  the  Florentine  was 
due  simply  to  the  same  current  rumors  of  Toscanelli's  views 
which  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  king.  So  in  replying 
His  letter  to  to  Columbus  Toscanelli  simply  shortened  his  task  by 
Columbus,  inclosing,  with  a  brief  introduction,  a  copy  of  the  let 
ter,  which  he  says  he  had  sent  "  some  days  before  "  to  Mar 
tinez.  This  letter  outlined  a  plan  of  western  discovery ;  but  it 
is  difficult  to  establish  beyond  doubt  the  exact  position  which 
the  letter  of  Toscanelli  should  hold  in  the  growth  of  Colum- 
bus's  views.  If  Columbus  reached  Portugal  as  late  as  1473-74, 
as  seems  likely,  it  is  rendered  less  certain  that  Columbus  had 
grasped  his  idea  anterior  to  the  spread  of  Toscanelli's  theory. 
In  any  event,  the  letter  of  the  Florentine  physician  would 
strengthen  the  growing  notions  of  the  Genoese. 

As  Toscanelli  was  at  this  time  a  man  of  seventy-seven,  and 
as  a  belief  in  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  was  then  not  unpreva- 
lent,  and  as  the  theory  of  a  westward  way  to  the  East  was  a 
necessary  concomitant  of  such  views  in  the  minds  of  thinking 
men,  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that  the  latent  faith  in  a  westward 
passage  only  needed  a  vigilant  mind  to  develop  the  theory,  and 
an  adventurous  spirit  to  prove  its  correctness.  The  develop 
ment  had  been  found  in  Toscanelli.  and  the  proof  was  waiting 
for  Columbus,  —  both  Italians  ;  but  Humboldt  points  out  how 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  109 

the   Florentine  very  likely  thought  he  was  communicating  with 
a  Portuguese,  when  he  wrote  to  Columbus. 

This  letter  has  been  known  since  1571  in  the  Italian  text  as 
given  in  the  Historic,  which,  as  it  turns  out,  was  inexact  and 
overladen  with  additions.  At  least  such  is  the  inference  when 
we  compare  this  Italian  text  with  a  Latin  text,  supposed  to  be 
the  original  tongue  of  the  letter,  which  has  been  discovered  of 
late  years  in  the  handwriting  of  Columbus  himself,  on  the  fly 
leaf  of  an  ^Eneas  Sylvius  (1477),  once  belonging  to  Columbus, 
and  still  preserved  in  the  Biblioteca  Colombina  at  Seville. 
The  letter  which  is  given  in  the  Historie  is  accompanied  by  an 
antescript,  which  says  that  the  copy  had  been  sent  to  Colum 
bus  at  his  request,  and  that  it  had  been  originally  addressed  to 
Martinez,  some  time  "before  the  wars  of  Castile."  How  much 
later  than  the  date  June  25,  1474,  this  copy  was  sent  to  Colum 
bus,  and  when  it  was  received  by  him,  there  is  no  sure  means 
of  determining,  and  it  may  yet  be  in  itself  one  of  the  factors 
for  limiting  the  range  of  months  during  which  Columbus  must 
have  arrived  in  Portugal. 

The  extravagances  of  the  letter  of  Toscanelli,  in  his  opulent 
descriptions    of   a    marvelous    Asiatic    region,    were 
safely  made  in  that  age  without  incurring  the  charge  visions  of 
of  credulit}r.     Travelers  could  tell  tales  then  that  were 
as  secure  from  detection  as  the   revealed  arcana  of  the  Zuni 
have  been  in  our  own  days.     Two  hundred  towns,  whose  marble 
bridges  spanned  a  single  river,   and  whose  commerce  could  in 
cite  the  cupidity  of  the  world,  was  a  tale  easily  to  stir  numer 
ous  circles  of  listeners  in  the  maritime  towns  of  the  Mediterra 
nean,  wherever  wandering  mongers  of  marvels  came  and  went. 
There  were  such  travelers  whose  recitals  Toscanelli  had  read, 
and  others  whose  tales  he  had  heard  from  their  own  lips,  and 
these  last  were  pretty  sure  to  augment  the  wonders  of  the  eldei 
talebearers. 

Columbus  had  felt  this  influence  with  the  rest,  and  the  tales 
lost  nothing  of  their  vividness  in  coming  to  him  freshened,  as  it 
were,  by  the  curious  mind  of  the  Florentine  physician.  The 
map  which  accompanied  Toscanelli's  letter,  and  which  depicted 
his  notions  of  the  Asiatic  coast  lying  over  against  that  of  Spain, 
is  lost  to  us,  but  various  attempts  have  been  made  to  restore 
it,  as  is  done  in  the  sketch  annexed.  It  will  be  a  precious 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  111 

memorial,  if  ever  recovered,  worthy  of  study  as  a  reflex,  in  more 
concise  representation  than  is  found  in  the  text  of  the  letter,  of 
the  ideas  which  one  of  the  most  learned  cosmographers  of  his 
day  had  imbibed  from  mingled  demonstrations  of  science  and 
imagination. 

It  is  said  that  in  our  own  day,  in  the  first  stages  of  a  belief 
in  the  practicability  of  an  Atlantic  telegraphic  cable,  The  passage 
it  was  seriously  claimed  that  the  vast  stretch  of  its  ex-  westward- 
tension  could  be  broken  by  a  halfway  station  on  Jacquet  Island, 
one  of  those  relics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  has  disappeared 
from  our  ocean  charts  only  in  recent  years. 

Just  in  the  same  way  all  the  beliefs  which  men  had  had  in 
the  island  of  Antillia,  and  in  the  existence  of  many 

.    .  .  i  •  f    Antillia. 

another  visionary  bit  of  land,  came  to  the  assistance  or 
these  theoretical  discoverers  in  planning  the  chances  of  a  des 
perate  voyage  far  out  into  a  sea  of  gorgons  and  chimeras  dire. 
Toscanelli's  map  sought  to  direct  the  course  of  any  one  who 
dared  to  make  the  passage,  in  a  way  that,  in  case  of  disaster  to 
his  ships,  a  secure  harbor  could  be  found  in  Antillia,  and  in 
such  other  havens  as  no  lack  of  islands  would  supply. 

Ferdinand  claimed  to  have  found  in  his  father's  papers  some 
statements  which  he  had  drawn  from  Aristotle  of  Carthaginian 
voyages  to  Antillia,  on  the  strength  of  which  the  Portuguese 
had  laid  that  island  down  in  their  charts  in  the  latitude  of  Lis 
bon,  as  one  occupied  by  their  people  in  714,  when  Spain  was 
conquered  by  the  Moors.  Even  so  recently  as  the  time  of  Prince 
Henry  it  had  been  visited  by  Portuguese  ships,  if  records  were 
to  be  believed.  It  also  stands  in  the  Bianco  map  of  1436. 

There  are  few  more  curious  investigations  than  those  which 
concern  these  fantastic  and  fabulous  islands  of  the  Sea 

of  Darkness.     They  are  connected  with  views  which   islands  of 

•  i  •          ,.  *        ^       i      •    *.•  -J.-L   the  Atlantic- 

were  an  inheritance  in  part  trom  the  classic  times,  with 

involved  notions  of  the  abodes  of  the  blessed  and  of  demoniacal 
spirits.  In  part  they  were  the  aerial  creation  of  popular  mythol 
ogies,  going  back  to  a  remoteness  of  which  it  is  impossible  to 
trace  the  beginning,  and  which  got  a  variable  color  from  the 
popular  fancies  of  succeeding  generations.  The  whole  subject 
is  curiously  without  the  field  of  geography,  though  entering  into 
all  surveys  of  mediaeval  knowledge  of  the  earth,  and  depending 
very  largely  for  its  elucidation  on  the  maps  of  the  fourteenth 


112  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

and  fifteenth  centuries,  whose  mythical  traces  are  not  beyond 
recognition  in  some  of  the  best  maps  which  have  instructed  a 
generation  still  living. 

To  place  the  island  of  the  Irish  St.  Brandan  —  whose  coming 
st.  Bran-  there  with  his  monks  is  spoken  of  as  taking  place  in 
the  sixth  century  —  in  the  catalogue  of  insular  enti 
ties  is  to  place  geography  in  such  a  marvelous  guise  as  would 
have  satisfied  the  monk  Philoponus  and  the  rest  of  the  credu 
lous  fictiomnongers  who  hang  about  the  skirts  of  the  historic 
field.  But  the  belief  in  it  long  prevailed,  and  the  apparition 
sometimes  came  to  sailors'  eyes  as  late  as  the  last  century. 

The  great  island  of  Antillia,  or  the  Seven  Cities,  already  re 
ferred  to,  was  recognized,  so  far  as  we  know,  for  the 
the  Seven  first  time  in  the  Weimar  map  of  1424,  and  is  known 
in  legends  as  the  resort  of  some  Spanish  bishops, 
flying  from  the  victorious  Moors,  in  the  eighth  century.  It 
never  quite  died  out  from  the  recognition  of  curious  minds,  and 
was  even  thought  to  have  been  seen  by  the  Portuguese,  not  far 
from  the  time  when  Columbus  was  born.  Peter  Martyr  also, 
after  Columbus  had  returned  from  his  first  voyage,  had  a  fancy 
that  what  the  Admiral  had  discovered  was  really  the  great  isl 
and  of  Antillia,  and  its  attendant  groups  of  smaller  isles,  and 
the  fancy  was  perpetuated  when  Wytfliet  and  Ortelius  popular 
ized  the  name  of  Antilles  for  the  West  Indian  Archipelago. 

Another  fleeting  insular  vision  of  this  pseudo-geographical 
Brazil  realm  was  a  smaller  body  of  floating  land,  very  incon 

stant  in  position,  which  is  always  given  some  form  of 
the  name  that,  in  later  times,  got  a  constant  shape  in  the  word 
Brazil.  We  can  trace  it  back  into  the  portolanos  of  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century ;  and  it  had  not  disappeared  as  a  sur 
vival  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  in  the  admiralty  charts  of  Great 
Britain.  The  English  were  sending  out  expeditions  from  Bris 
tol  in  search  of  it  even  while  Columbus  was  seeking  counte 
nance  for  his  western  schemes  ;  and  Cabot,  at  a  little  later  day, 
was  instrumental  in  other  searches. 

Foremost  among  the  travelers  who  had  excited  the  interest 
Travelers  in  °^  Toscanelli,  and  whose  names  he  possibly  brought 
the  onent.  .for  fae  ftrs£  time  to  the  attention  of  Columbus,  were 
Marco  Polo,  Sir  John  Mandeville,  and  Nicolas  de  Conti. 

It  is  a  question  to  be  resolved  only  by  critical  study  as  to 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL. 


113 


MODERN  EASTERN   ASIA,   WITH  THE  OLD   AND  NEW  NAMES. 
[From  Yule's  Cathay.'] 


114 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


what  was  the  language  in  which  Marco  Polo  first  dictated,  in 

a  Genoese  prison  in  1298,  the  original  narrative  of 

ol°'    his  experiences  in  Cathay.     The  inquiry  has  engaged 


EASTERN  ASIA,  CATALAN  MAP,  1375. 
[From  Yule's  Cathay,  vol.  i.] 


the  attention  of  all  his  editors,  and  has  invited  the  critical  sa 
gacity  of  D'Avezac.  There  seems  little  doubt  that  it  was  writ 
ten  down  in  French. 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  115 

There  are  no  references  by  Columbus  himself  to  the  Asiatic 
travels  of  Marco  Polo,  but  his  acquaintance  with  the  marvelous 
book  of  the  Venetian  observer  may  safely  be  assumed.  The 
multiplication  of  texts  of  the  Milione  following  upon  his  first 
dictation,  and  upon  the  subsequent  revision  in  1307,  may  not, 
indeed,  have  caused  it  to  be  widely  known  in  various  manu- 


MARCO   POLO. 

[From  an  original  at  Rome.] 

script  forms,  be  it  in  Latin  or  Italian.  Nor  is  it  likely  that 
Columbus  could  have  read  the  earliest  edition  which  was  put  in 
type,  for  it  was  in  German  in  1477  ;  but  there  is  the  interesting- 
possibility  that  this  work  of  the  Nuremberg  press  may  have 
been  known  to  Martin  Behaim,  a  Nuremberger  then  in  Lisbon, 
and  likely  enough  to  have  been  a  familiar  of  Columbus.  The 
fact  that  there  is  in  the  Biblioteca  Colombina  at  Seville  a  copy 
of  the  first  Latin  printed  edition  (1485)  with  notes,  which  seem 
to  be  in  Columbus's  handwriting,  may  be  taken  as  evidence, 
that  at  least  in  the  later  years  of  his  study  the  inspiration  which 
Marco  Polo  could  well  have  been  to  him  was  not  wanting ;  and 
the  story  may  even  be  true  as  told  in  Navarrete,  that  Columbus 


116  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

had  a  copy  of  this  famous  book  at  his  side  during  his  first  voy 
age,  in  1492. 

At  the  time  when  Humboldt  doubted  the  knowledge  of  Co- 

O 

lumbus  in  respect  to  Marco  Polo,  this  treasure  of  the  Colombina 
was  not  known,  and  these  later  developments  have  shown  how 
such  a  question  was  not  to  be  settled  as  Humboldt  supposed,  by 
the  fact  that  Columbus  quoted  ^Eneas  Sylvius  upon  Cipango, 
and  did  not  quote  Marco  Polo. 

Neither  does  Columbus  refer  to  the  journey  and  strange  sto- 
sir  John  "es  °^  Sir  John  Mandeville,  whose  recitals  came  to  a 
Mandeviiie.  generatiOn  which  was  beginning  to  forget  the  stories 
of  Marco  Polo,  and  which,  by  fostering  a  passion  for  the  mar 
velous,  had  readily  become  open  to  the  English  knight's  bewil 
dering  fancies.  The  same  negation  of  evidence,  however,  that 
satisfied  Humboldt  as  respects  Marco  Polo  will  hardly  suffice 
to  establish  Columbus's  ignorance  of  the  marvels  which  did  more, 
perhaps,  than  the  narratives  of  any  other  traveler  to  awaken 
Europe  to  the  wonders  of  the  Orient.  Bernaldez,  in  fact,  tells 
us  that  Columbus  was  a  reader  of  Mandeville,  whose  recital 
was  first  printed  in  French  at  Lyons  in  1480,  within  a  few 
years  after  Columbus's  arrival  in  Portugal. 

It  was  to  Florence,  in  Toscanelli's  time,  not  far  from  1420, 
Nicoiodi  *nat  Nicolo  di  Conti,  a  Venetian,  came,  after  his  long 
sojourn  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  far  East.  In 
Conti's  new  marvels,  the  Florentine  scholar  saw  a  rejuvenation 
of  the  wonders  of  Marco  Polo.  It  was  from  Conti,  doubtless, 
that  Toscanelli  got  some  of  that  confidence  in  a  western  voyage 
which,  in  his  epistle  to  Columbus,  he  speaks  of  as  derived  from 
a  returned  traveler. 

Pope  Eugene  IV.,  not  far  from  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Co 
lumbus,  compelled  Conti  to  relate  his  experiences  to  Poggio 
Bracciolini.  This  scribe  made  what  he  could  out  of  the  mon 
strous  tales,  and  translated  the  stories  into  Latin.  In  this  con 
dition  Columbus  may  have  known  the  narrative  at  a  later  day. 
The  information  which  Conti  gave  was  eagerly  availed  of  by 
the  cosmographers  of  the  time,  and  Colonel  Yule,  the  modern 
English  writer  on  ancient  Cathay,  thinks  that  Fra  Mauro  got 
for  his  map  more  from  Conti  than  that  traveler  ventured  to 
disclose  to  Poggio. 

Toscanelli,  at  the  time  of  writing  this  letter  to  Columbus,  had 


COLUMBUS   IN  PORTUGAL.  117 

long  enjoyed  a  reputation  as  a  student  of  terrestrial  and  celes 
tial  phenomena.  He  had  received,  in  1463,  the  dedica-  Toscaneiii»8 
tion  by  Regiomontanus  of  his  treatise  on  the  quadra-  death> 1482> 
ture  of  the  circle.  He  was,  as  has  been  said,  an  old  man  of 
seventy-seven  when  Columbus  opened  his  correspondence  with 
him.  It  was  not  his  fate  to  live  long  enough  to  see  his  physical 
views  substantiated  by  Diaz  and  Columbus,  for  he  died  in 
1482. 

In  two  of  the  contemporary  writers,  Bartholomew  Columbus 
is  credited  with  having  incited  his  brother  Christopher 

i.ii-i          i  T  Columbus 

to  the  views  which  he  developed  regarding  a  western  coders  with 
passage,  and  these  two  were  Antonio  Gallo  and  Gius- 
tiniani,  the  commentator  of  the  Psalms.  It  has  been  of  late 
contended  by  H.  Grothe,  in  his  Leonardo  da  Vinci  (Berlin, 
1874),  that  it  was  at  this  time,  too,  when  that  eminent  artist  con 
ducted  a  correspondence  with  Columbus  about  a  western  way  to 
Asia.  But  there  is  little  need  of  particularizing  other  advo 
cates  of  a  belief  which  had  within  the  range  of  credible  history 
never  ceased  to  have  exponents.  The  conception  was  in  no  re 
spect  the  merit  of  Columbus,  except  as  he  grasped  a  tradition, 
which  others  did  not,  and  it  is  strange,  that  Navarrete  in  quoting 
the  testimony  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  of  August  8,  1497,  to 
the  credit  of  the  discovery  of  Columbus,  as  his  own  proper 
work,  does  not  see  that  it  was  the  venturesome,  and  as  was 
then  thought  foolhardy,  deed  to  prove  the  conception  which 
those  monarchs  commended,  and  not  the  conception  itself. 

We  learn  from  the  Historic  that  its  writer  had  found  among 
the  papers  of  Columbus  the  evidence  of  the  grounds   Coiumbus 
of  his  belief  in  the  western  passage,  as  under  varying  J^8°for 
impressions  it  had  been  formulated  in  his  mind.    These  hisbelief- 
reasons  divide  easily  into  three  groups :  First,  those  based  on 
deductions  drawn  from  scientific  research,  and  as  expressed  in 
the  beliefs  of  Ptolemy,  Marinus,  Strabo,  and  Pliny  ;  second, 
views  which    the    authority  of    eminent  writers  had  rendered 
weightier,   quoting   as    such   the    works    of   Aristotle,    Seneca, 
Strabo,  Pliny,  Solinus,  Marco  Polo,  Mandeville,  Pierre  d'Ailly, 
and  Toscanelli :  and  third,  the  stories   of  sailors    as  to  lands 
and  indications  of  lands  westerly. 

From  these  views,  instigated  or  confirmed  by  such  opinions, 
Columbus  gradually  arranged  his  opinions,  in  not  one  of  which 


118  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

did  he  prove  to  be  right,  except  as  regards  the  sphericity  of  the 
earth ;  and  the  last  was  a  belief  which  had  been  the  common 
property  of  learned  men,  and  at  intervals  occupying  even  the 
popular  mind,  from  a  very  early  date. 

The  conception  among  the  Greeks  of  a  plane  earth,  which 
sphericity  was  taught  in  the  Homeric  and  Hesiodic  poems,  be- 
of  the  earth.  gan  ^Q  gj ye  pjace  ^o  a  crude  notion  of  a  spherical  form 
at  a  period  that  no  one  can  definitely  determine,  though  we  find 
it  taught  by  the  Pythagoreans  in.  Italy  in  the  sixth  century  be 
fore  Christ.  The  spherical  view  and  its  demonstration  passed 
down  through  long  generations  of  Greeks,  under  the  sanction  of 
Plato  and  their  other  highest  thinkers.  In  the  fourth  century 
before  Christ,  Aristotle  and  others,  by  watching  the  moon's 
shadow  in  an  eclipse,  and  by  observing  the  rising  and  setting 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  in  different  latitudes,  had  proved  the 
roundness  of  the  earth  to  their  satisfaction  ;  Eratosthenes  first 
measured  a  degree  of  latitude  in  the  third  century  ;  Hipparchus, 
in  the  second  century,  was  the  earliest  to  establish  geograph 
ical  positions ;  and  in  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era 
Ptolemy  had  formulated  for  succeeding  times  the  gen- 
sion  of  the  eral  scope  of  the  transmitted  belief.  During*  all  these 

belief  in  it.  •          •.  ,1  •  £    ^ 

centuries  it  was  perhaps  rather  a  possession  or  the 
learned.  We  infer  from  Aristotle  that  the  view  was  a  novelty 
in  his  time  ;  but  in  the  third  century  before  Christ  it  began  to 
engage  popular  attention  in  the  poem  of  Aratus,  and  at  about 
200  B.  C.  Crates  is  said  to  have  given  palpable  manifestation 
of  the  theory  in  a  globe,  ten  feet  in  diameter,  which  he  con 
structed. 

The  belief  passed  to  Italy  and  the  Latins,  and  was  sung  by 
Hyginus  and  Manilius  in  the  time  of  Augustus.  We  find  it 
also  in  the  minds  of  Pliny,  Cicero,  Virgil,  and  Ovid.  So  the 
belief  became  the  heirloom  of  the  learned  throughout  the  clas 
sic  times,  and  it  was  directly  coupled  in  the  minds  of  Aristotle, 
Eratosthenes,  Strabo,  Seneca,  and  others  with  a  conviction, 
more  or  less  pronounced,  of  an  easy  western  voyage  from  Spain 
to  India. 

No  one  of  the  ancient  expressions  of  this  belief  seems  to  have 
Seneca's  clung  more  in  the  memory  of  Columbus  than  that  in 
the  Medea  of  Seneca  ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  con 
firmation  that  in  a  copy  of  the  book  which  belonged  to  his  son 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  119 

Ferdinand,  and  which  is  now  preserved  in  Seville,  the  passage  is 
scored  by  the  son's  hand,  while  in  a  marginal  note  he  has  at 
tested  the  fact  that  its  prophecy  of  a  western, passage  had  been 
made  good  by  his  father  in  1492.  Though  the  opinion  was  op 
posed  by  St.  Chrysostom  in  the  fourth  century,  it  was  taught  by 
St.  Augustine  and  Isidore  in  the  fifth.  Cosmas  in  the  sixth  cen 
tury  was  unable  to  understand  how,  if  the  earth  was 
a  sphere,  those  at  the  antipodes  could  see  Christ  at 
his  coming.  That  settled  the  question  in  his  mind.  The  Vener 
able  Bede,  however,  in  the  eighth  century,  was  not  constrained 
by  any  such  arguments,  and  taught  the  spherical  theory.  Jour- 
dain,  a  modern  French  authority,  has  found  distinct  evidence 
that  all  through  the  Middle  Ages  the  belief  in  the  western  way 
was  kept  alive  by  the  study  of  Aristotle ;  and  we  know  how  the 
Arabs  perpetuated  the  teachings  of  that  philosopher,  which  in 
turn  were  percolated  through  the  Levant  to  Mediterranean  peo 
ples.  It  is  a  striking  fact  that  at  a  time  when  Spain  was  bend 
ing  all  her  energies  to  drive  the  Moor  from  the  Iberian  penin 
sula,  that  country  was  also  engaged  in  pursuing  those  discoveries 
along  the  western  way  to  India  which  were  almost  a  direct  result 
of  the  Arab  preservation  of  the  cosmographical  learning  of 
Aristotle  and  Ptolemy.  A  belief  in  an  earth-ball  had  the  tes 
timony  of  Dante  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  it  was  the  well- 
known  faith  of  Albertus  Magnus,  Roger  Bacon,  and  Bacon)  A1_ 
the  schoolmen,  in  the  thirteenth.  It  continued  to  be  n^fpiS" 
held  by  the  philosophers,  who  kept  alive  these  more  d'Amy- 
recent  names,  and  came  to  Columbus  because  of  the  use  of 
Bacon  which  Pierre  d'Ailly  had  made. 

The  belief  in  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  carried  with  it  of 
necessity  another,  —  that  the  east  was  to  be  found  in  the  west. 
Superstition,  ignorance,  and  fear  might  magnify  the  obstacles 
to  a  passage  through  that  drear  Sea  of  Darkness,  but  in  Colum- 
bus's  time,  in  some  learned  minds  at  least,  there  was  no  dis 
trust  as  to  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  voyage  beyond  the 
chance  of  obstacles  in  the  way. 

It  is  true  that  in  this  interval  of  very  many  centuries  there 
had  been  lapses  into  unbelief.  There  were  long  periods,  indeed, 
when  no  one  dared  to  teach  the  doctrine.  Whenever  and 
wherever  the  Epicureans  supplanted  the  Pythagoreans,  the  be 
lief  fell  with  the  disciples  of  Pythagoras.  There  had  been,  dur- 


120  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ing  the  days  of  St.  Chrysostom  and  other  of,  the  fathers,  a  de 
cision  of  the  Church  against  it.    There  were  doubtless, 

The  belief 

opposed  by     as  Hurnboldt  says,  conservers,  during  all  this  time,  of 
the  traditions  of  antiquity,  since  the  monasteries  and 

ALBERTVS  MAGNVS  EPI 

fcopusKatiJpoaentis. 


M,  cccxxcn. 

ALBERTUS   MAGNUS. 
[From  Reusner's  Icones,  ~\ 

colleges  —  even  in  an  age  when  to  be  unlearned  was  more  par* 
donable  than  to  be  pagan  —  were  of  themselves  quite  a  world 
apart  from  the  dullness  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  A  hundred 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  121 

years  before  Columbus,  the  inheritor  of  much  of  this  conserva 
tion  was  the  Bishop  of  Cambray,  that   Pierre  d'Ailly  whose 
Imago    Mundi   (1410)   was  so  often  on  the  lips  of  Pierre 
Columbus,  and  out  of  which  it  is  more  than  likely  that  /J^7'8 
Columbus  drank  of  the  knowledge  of  Aristotle,  Strabo,   MundL 
and  Seneca,  and  to  a  degree  greater  perhaps  than  he  was  aware 
of  he  took  thence  the  wisdom  of  Roger  Bacon.     It  was  through 
the  Opus  Majus  (1267)  of  this  English  philosopher 
that  western  Europe  found  accessible  the  stories  of  the  can's  Opus 
"  silver  walls  and  golden  towers  "  of  Quinsay  as  de 
scribed  by  Eubruquis,  the   wandering  missionary,  who  in  the 
thirteenth  century  excited  the  cupidity  of  the  Mediterranean 
merchants  by  his  accounts  of  the  inexhaustible  treasures  of  east 
ern  Asia,  and  which  the  reader  of  to-day  may  find  in  the  col 
lections  of  Samuel  Purchas. 

Pierre  d'Ailly's  position  in  regard  to  cosmographical  knowl 
edge  was  hardly  a  dominant  one.  He  seems  to  know  nothing 
of  Marco  Polo,  Bacon's  contemporary,  and  he  never  speaks  of 
Cathay,  even  when  he  urges  the  views  which  he  has  borrowed 
from  Roger  Bacon,  of  the  extension  of  Asia  towards  Western 
Europe. 

Any  acquaintance  with  the  Imago  Mundi  during  these  days 
of  Columbus  in  Portugal  came  probably  through  report,  though 
possibly  he  may  have  met  with  manuscripts  of  the  work ;  for  it 
was  not  till  after  he  had  gone  to  Spain  that  D'Ailly  could  have 
been  read  in  any  printed  edition,  the  first  being  issued  in  1490. 

The  theory  of  the  rotundity  of  the  earth  carried  with  it  one 
objection,  which  in  the  time  of  Columbus  was  sure 

i  i  •        i  TC  Rotundity 

sooner  or  later  to  be  seized  upon.  It,  going  west,  the  and  gravita- 
ship  sank  with  the  declivity  of  the  earth's  contour,  how 
was  she  going  to  mount  such  an  elevation  011  her  return  voy 
age  ?  —  a  doubt  not  so  unreasonable  in  an  age  which  had  hardly 
more  than  the  vaguest  notion  of  the  laws  of  gravitation,  though 
some,  like  Vespucius,  were  not  without  a  certain  prescience  of 
the  fact. 

By   the  middle  of  the  third  century  before  Christ,  Eratos 
thenes,  accepting  sphericity,  had  by  astronomical  methods  stud 
ied  the  extent  of  the  earth's  circumference,  and,  ac-  Size  of  the 
cording  to  the  interpretation  of  his  results  by  modern  earth< 
scholars,  he  came  surprisingly  near  to  the  actual  size,  when  he 


122  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

-exceeded  the  truth  by  perhaps  a  twelfth  part.  The  calculations 
of  Eratosthenes  commended  themselves  to  Hipparchus,  Strabo, 
and  Pliny.  A  century  later  than  Eratosthenes,  a  new  calcula 
tion,  made  by  Posidonius  of  Rhodes,  reduced  the  magnitude  to  a 
globe  of  about  four  fifths  its  proper  size.  It  was  palpably  cer 
tain  to  the  observant  philosophers,  from  the  beginning  of  their 
observations  on  the  size  of  the  earth,  that  the  portion  known  to 
commerce  and  curiosity  was  but  a  small  part  of  what  might  yet 
be  known.  The  unknown,  however,  is  always  a  terror.  Going 
north  from  temperate  Europe  increased  the  cold,  going  south 
augmented  the  heat ;  and  it  was  no  bold  thought  for  the  natu 
ralist  to  conclude  that  a  north  existed  in  which  the  cold  was 
unbearable,  and  a  south  in  which  the  heat  was  too  great  for  life. 
Views  like  these  stayed  the  impulse  for  exploration  even  down 
to  the  century  of  Columbus,  and  magnified  the  horrors  which  so 
long  balked  the  exploration  of  the  Portuguese  011  the  African 
coast.  There  had  been  intervals,  however,  when  men  in  the 
Indian  Ocean  had  dared  to  pass  the  equator. 

Therefore  it  was  before  the  age  of  Columbus  that,  east  and 
Unknown  west  along  the  temperate  belt,  men's  minds  groped  to 
regions.  £n(j  new  con(iitions  beyond  the  range  of  known  habi 
table  regions.  Strabo,  in  the  first  century  before  Christ,  made 
strabo  and  *n^s  habitable  zone  stretch  over  120  degrees,  or  a  third 
the^izTof11  °^  the  circumference  of  the  earth.  The  correspond- 
the  earth.  jng  extension  of  Marinus  of  Tyre  in  the  second  cen 
tury  after  Christ  stretched  over  225  degrees.  This  geographer 
did  not  define  the  land's  border  on  the  ocean  at  the  east,  but  it 
was  not  unusual  with  the  cosmographers  who  followed  him  to 
carry  the  farthest  limits  of  Asia  to  what  is  actually  the  merid 
ian  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  On  the  west  Marinus  pushed  the 
Fortunate  Islands  (Canaries)  two  degrees  and  a  half  beyond 
Cape  Finisterre,  failing  to  comprehend  their  real  position,  which 
for  the  westernmost,  Ferro,  is  something  like  nine  degrees  be 
yond  the  farther  limits  of  the  main  land. 

The  belt  of  the  known  world  running  in  the  direction  of  the 
Ptolemy's  equator  was,  in  the  conception  of  Ptolemy,  the  con 
temporary  of  Marinus,  about  seventy-nine  degrees 
wide,  sixteen  of  these  being  south  of  the  equatorial  line.  This 
was  a  contraction  from  the  previous  estimate  of  Marinus,  who 
had  made  it  over  eighty-seven  degrees. 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL. 


123 


Toscanelli  reduced  the  globe  to  a  circumference  of  about 
18,000  miles,  losing  about  6,000  miles ;  and  the  un-  Toscanelli»8 
tracked  ocean,  lying  west  of  Lisbon,  was  about  one  view- 
third  of  this  distance.  In  other  words,  the  known  world 
occupied  about  240  of  the  360  degrees  constituting  the  equato 
rial  length.  Few  of  the  various  computations  of  this  time  gave 
such  scant  dimensions  to  the  unknown  proportion  of  the  line. 
The  Laon  globe,  which  was  made  ten  or  twelve  years  later  than 
Toscanelli' s  time,  was  equally  scant.  Behaim,  who  figured  out 


LAON  GLOBE. 

[After  D'Avezac.] 

the  relations  of  the  known  to  the  unknown  circuit,  during  the 
summer  before  Columbus  sailed  on  his  first  voyage,  reduced 
what  was  known  to  not  much  more  than  a  third  of  the  whole. 
It  was  the  fashion,  too,  with  an  easy  reliance  on  their  genuine 
ness,  to  refer  to  the  visions  of  Esdras  in  support  of  a  belief  in 
the  small  part  —  a  sixth  —  of  the  surface  of  the  globe  covered 
by  the  ocean. 

The  problem  lay  in  Columbus's  mind  thus :  he  accepted  the 
theory  of   the    division   of   the    circumference  of  the  views  of 
earth  into  twenty-four  hours,  as  it  had   come  down   Columbus- 
from  Marinus  of  Tyre,  when  this  ancient  astronomer  supposed 
that  from  the  eastern  verge  of  Asia  to  the  western  extremity  of 
Europe  there  was  a  space  of  fifteen  hours.     The  discovery  of 


124  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

the  Azores  had  pushed  the  known  limit  a  single  hour  farther 
towards  the  setting  sun,  making  sixteen  hours,  or  two  thirds  of 
the  circumference  of  360  degrees.  There  were  left  eight  hours, 
or  one  hundred  and  twenty  degrees,  to  represent  the  space  be 
tween  the  Azores  and  Asia.  This  calculation  in  reality  brought 
the  Asiatic  coast  forward  to  the  meridian  of  California,  obliter 
ating  the  width  of  the  Pacific  at  that  latitude,  and  reducing  by 
so  much  the  size  of  the  globe  as  Columbus  measured  it,  on  the 
assumption  that  Marinus  was  correct.  This,  however,  he  de 
nied.  If  the  Historie  reports  Columbus  exactly,  he  contended 
that  the  testimony  of  Marco  Polo  and  Mandeville  carried  the 
verge  of  Asia  so  far  east  that  the  land  distance  was  more  than 
fifteen  hours  across ;  and  by  as  much  as  this  increased  the  dis 
tance,  by  so  much  more  was  the  Asiatic  shore  pushed  nearer 
the  coasts  of  Europe.  tt  We  can  thus  determine,"  he  says, 
"  that  India  is  even  neighboring  to  Spain  and  Africa." 

The  calculation  of  course  depended  on  what  was  the  length 
Length  of  a    °^  a  degree,  and  on  this  point  there  was  some  differ 
ence  of  opinion.     Toscanelli  had  so  reduced  a  degree's 
length  that  China  was  brought  forward  on  his  planisphere  till 
its  coast  line  cut  the  meridian  of  the  present  Newfoundland. 

We  can  well  imagine  how  this  undue  contraction  of  the 
size  of  the  globe,  as  the  belief  lay  in  the  mind  of  Columbus,  and 
as  he  expressed  it  later  (July  7,  1503),  did  much  to  push  him 
forward,  and  was  a  helpful  illusion  in  inducing  others  to  ven 
ture  upon  the  voyage  with  him.  The  courage  required  to  sail 
out  of  some  Iberian  port  due  west  a  hundred  and  twenty  de 
grees  in  order  to  strike  the  regions  about  the  great 
Chinese  city  of  Quinsay,  or  Kanfu,  Hangtscheufu,  and 
Kingszu,  as  it  has  been  later  called,  was  more  easily  summoned 
than  if  the  actual  distance  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-one 
degrees  had  been  recognized,  or  even  the  two  hundred  and  four 
degrees  necessary  in  reality  to  reach  Cipango,  or  Japan.  The 
views  of  Toscanelli,  as  we  have  seen,  reduced  the  duration  of 
risk  westward  to  so  small  a  figure  as  fifty-two  degrees.  So  it 
had  not  been  an  unusual  belief,  more  or  less  prominent  for 
many  generations,  that  with  a  fair  wind  it  required  no  great  run 
westward  to  reach  Cathay,  if  one  dared  to  undertake  it.  If 
there  were  no  insurmountable  obstacles  in  the  Sea  of  Darkness, 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  reach  earlier  that  multitude  of 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  125 

islands    which   was    supposed    to    fringe    the    coast    of    China. 
It  was  a  common  belief,  moreover,  that  somewhere  in   Asiatic 
this  void  lay  the  great  island  of  Cipango,  —  the  goal  islanda- 
of  Columbus's  voyage.      Sometimes  nearer  and  sometimes  far 
ther  it  lay  from   the   Asiatic    coast.     Pinzon   saw  in 
Rome  in  1491  a  map  which  carried  it  well  away  from 
that  coast ;   and  if  one  could  find    somewhere  in  the   English 
archives    the    sea-chart   with    which    Bartholomew    Columbus 
enforced  the  views  of  his  brother,  to  gain  the  support  of  the 
English  king,  it  is  supposed  that  it  would  reveal  a  somewhat 
similar  location  of  the  coveted  island.     Here,  then,  was  a  space, 
larger  or  smaller,  as  men  differently  believed,  interjacent  along 
this  known  zone  between  the  ascertained  extreme  east  in  Asia 
and  the  accepted  most  distant  west  at  Cape  St.  Vincent   in 
Spain,  as  was  thought  in  Strabo's  time,  or  at  the  Canaries,  as 
was  comprehended  in  the  days  of  Ptolemy.     What  there  was  in 
this  unknown  space  between  Spain  and  Cathay  was  the  problem 
which  balked  the  philosophers   quite  as   much    as    that   other 
uncertainty,  which  concerned  what  might  possibly  be  found  in 
the  southern  hemisphere,   could  one  dare  to  enter  the  torrid 
heats    of   the    supposed    equatorial    ocean,   or  in  the  northern 
wastes,  could  one   venture  to  sail    beyond  the  Arctic   Circle. 
These  curious  quests  of  the  inquisitive  and  learned  minds  of  the 
early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  were  the  proto-  Spanish  and 
types  of   the  actual  explorations  which  it  was  given  expS-686 
in  the  fifteenth  century  to  the  Spaniards  and  Portu-    tlons> 
guese  respectively  to  undertake.     The  commercial  rivalry  which 
had  in  the  past  kept  Genoa  and  Venice  watchful  of  each  other's 
advantage    had    by   their    maritime   ventures   in    the    Atlantic 
passed  to  these  two  peninsular  nations,  and  England  was  not 
long  behind  them  in  starting  in  her  race  for  maritime  suprem 
acy. 

It  was  in  human  nature  that  these  unknown  regions  should 
become  those  either  of  enchantment  or  dismay,   according  to 
personal  proclivities.     It  is  not  necessary  to  seek  far  for  any 
reason  for  this.     An  unknown  stretch  of  waters  was  just  the 
place  for  the  resorts  of  the  Gorgons  and  to  find  the  Sea  of 
Islands  of  the  Blest,  and  to  nurture  other  creations  of  Darkness- 
the  literary  and  spiritual  instincts,  seeking  to  give  a  habitation 
to  fancies.    It  is  equally  in  human  nature  that  what  the  intellect 


126  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

has  habilitated  in  this  way  the  fears,  desires,  and  superstitions 
of  men  in  due  time  turn  tox  their  own  use.  It  was  easy,  under 
the  stress  of  all  this  complexity  of  belief  and  anticipation,  for 
this  supposable  interjacent  oceanic  void  to  teem  in  men's  im 
aginations  with  regions  of  almost  every  imaginable  character ; 
and  when,  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  republic,  the  Canaries  were 
reached,  there  was  no  doubt  but  the  ancient  Islands  of  the  Blest 
had  been  found,  only  in  turn  to  pass  out  of  cognizance,  and 
once  more  to  fall  into  the  abyss  of  the  Unknown. 

There  are,  however,  three  legends  which  have  come  down  to 
story  of  us  from  the  classic  times,  which  the  discovery  of 
Atlantis.  America  revived  with  new  interest  in  the  speculative 
excursions  of  the  curiously  learned,  and  it  is  one  of  the  proofs 
of  the  narrow  range  of  Columbus's  acquaintance  with  original 
classic  writers  that  these  legends  were  not  pressed  by  him  in 
support  of  his  views.  The  most  persistent  of  these  in  present 
ing  a  question  for  the  physical  geographer  is  the  story  of  Atlan 
tis,  traced  to  a  tale  told  by  Plato  of  a  tradition  of  an  island  in 
the  Atlantic  which  eight  thousand  years  ago  had  existed  in  the 
west,  opposite  the  Pillars  of  Hercules ;  and  which ,  in  a  great 
inundation,  had  sunken  beneath  the  sea,  leaving  in  mid  ocean 
large  mud  shoals  to  impede  navigation  and  add  to  the  terrors  of 
a  vast  unknown  deep.  There  have  been  those  since  the  time  of 
Gomara  who  have  believed  that  the  land  which  Columbus 
found  dry  and  inhabited  was  a  resurrected  Atlantis,  and  geog 
raphers  even  of  the  seventeenth  century  have  mapped  out  its 
provinces  within  the  usual  outline  of  the  American  continents. 
Others  have  held,  and  some  still  hold,  that  the  Atlantic  islands 
are  but  peaks  of  this  submerged  continent.  There  is  no  evi 
dence  to  show  that  these  fancies  of  the  philosopher  ever  dis 
turbed  even  the  most  erratic  moments  of  Columbus,  nor  could 
he  have  pored  over  the  printed  Latin  of  Plato,  if  it  came  in  his 
way,  till  its  first  edition  appeared  in  1483,  during  his  stay  in 
Land  of  the  Portugal.  Neither  do  we  find  that  he  makes  any  ref- 
Meropes.  erences  to  that  other  creation,  the  land  of  the  Meropes, 
as  figured  in  the  passages  cited  by  2Elian  some  seven  hundred 
years  after  Theopompus  had  conjured  up  the  vision  in  the 
fourth  century  before  Christ.  Equally  ignorant  was  Columbus, 
saturnian  ^  would  appear,  of  the  great  Saturnian  continent, 
continent,  lying  five  days  west  from  Britain,  which  makes  a 
story  in  Plutarch's  Morals. 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  127 

We  deal  with  a  different  problem  when  we  pass  from  these 
theories  and  imaginings  of  western  lands  to  such  rec- 

Tfarlipr  vov- 

ords  as  exist  of  what  seem  like  attempts  in  the  earliest  ages  on  the 
days  to  attain  by  actual  exploration  the  secret  of  this 

.  .  •  -i  mi         T-»I  •    •  IT  -ii          Phoenicians. 

interjacent  void.  Ihe  Phoenicians  had  passed  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar  and  found  Gades  (Cadiz),  and  very  likely 
attempted  to  course  the  Atlantic,  about  1100  years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ.  Perhaps  they  went  to  Cornwall  for  tin.  It 
may  have  been  by  no  means  impossible  for  them  to  have  passed 
among  the  Azores  and  even  to  have  reached  the  American 
islands  and  main,  as  a  statement  in  Diodorus  Siculus  has  been 
interpreted  to  signify.  Then  five  hundred  years  later  Carthagini. 
or  more  we  observe  the  Carthaginians  pursuing  their  ans> 
adventurous  way  outside  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  going  down 
the  African  coast  under  Hanno  to  try  the  equatorial  horrors,  or 
running  westerly  under  Hamilko  to  wonder  at  the  Sargasso  sea. 
Later,  the  Phoenicians  seem  to  have  made  some  lodgment  in 
the  islands  off  the  coasts  of  northwestern  Africa.  The  Eomans 
in  the  fourth  century  before  Christ  pushed  their  way 
out  into  the  Atlantic  under  Pytheas  and  Euthymenes, 
the  one  daring  to  go  as  far  as  Thule  —  whatever  that  was  —  in 
the  north,  and  the  other  to  Senegal  in  the  south.  It  was  in  the 
same  century  that  Rome  had  the  strange  sight  of  some  unknown 
barbarians,  of  a  race  not  recognizable,  who  were  taken  upon  the 
shores  of  the  German  Ocean,  where  they  had  been  cast  away. 
Later  writers  have  imagined  —  for  no  stronger  word  can  be 
used  —  that  these  weird  beings  were  North  American  Indians, 
or  rather  more  probably  Eskimos.  About  the  same  time,  Ser- 
torius,  a  Roman  commander  in  Spain,  learned,  as  already  men 
tioned,  of  some  salubrious  islands  lying  westward  from  Africa, 
and  gave  Horace  an  opportunity,  in  the  evil  days  of  the  civil 
war,  to  picture  them  as  a  refuge. 

When  the  Romans  ruled  the  world,  commerce  lost  much  of 
the  hazard  and  enterprise  which  had  earlier  instigated  inter 
national  rivalry.  The  interest  in  the  western  ocean  subsided 
into  merely  speculative  concern;  and  wild  fancy  was  brought 
into  play  in  depicting  its  horrors,  its  demons  and  shoals,  with 
the  intermingling  of  sky  and  water. 

It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  Columbus  knew  anything  of 
this  ancient  lore  of  the  early  Mediterranean  people.  There  is 


128  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

little  or  nothing  in  the  early  maps  of  the  fifteenth  centurj  to 
indicate  that  such  knowledge  was  current  among  those 

Knowledge  ° 

of  such  early  who  made  or  contributed  to  the  making  of  such  of 

attempts. 

these  maps  as  have  come  down  to  us.  The  work  of 
some  of  the  more  famous  chart  makers  Columbus  could  hardly 
have  failed  to  see,  or  heard  discussed  in  the  maritime  circles  of 
Maps  xvth  Portugal ;  and  indeed  it  was  to  his  own  countrymen, 

Marino  Sanuto,  Pizignani,  Bianco,  and  Fra  Mauro, 
that  Portuguese  navigators  were  most  indebted  for  the  broad 
cartographical  treatment  of  their  own  discoveries.  At  the  same 
time  there  was  no  dearth  of  legends  of  the  venturesome  Genoese, 
with  fortunes  not  always  reassuring.  There  was  a  story,  for 
Genoese  voy-  instance,  of  some  of  these  latter  people,  who  in  1291 
ages,  1291.  ^a(j  saije(j  west  from  faQ  pjnars  of  Hercules  and  had 

never  returned.  Such  was  a  legend  that  might  not  have 
escaped  Columbus's  attention  even  in  his  own  country,  associ 
ating  with  it  the  names  of  the  luckless  Tedisio  Doria  and  Ugolino 
Vivaldi  in  their  efforts  to  find  a  western  way  to  India.  Har- 
risse,  however,  who  has  gone  over  all  the  evidence  of  such  a 
purpose,  fails  to  be  satisfied. 

These  stories  of  ocean  hazards  hung  naturally  about  the  sea 
ports  of  Portugal. 

Galvano  tells  us  of  such  a  tale  concerning  a  Portuguese  ship, 

driven  west,  in  1447,  to  an  island  with  seven  cities, 

where  its  sailors  found  the  people  speaking  Portuguese, 

who  said  they  had  deserted  their  country  on  the  death  of  King 

Roderigo.     This  is  the  legend  of  Antillia,  already  referred  to. 

Columbus  recalled,  when  afterwards  at  the  Canaries  on  his 

first  voyage,  how  it  was  during  his  sojourn  in  Portugal 

Islands  seen.       -  .,  ....          .  J1  ,T-» 

that  some  one  from  Madeira  presented  to  the  Portu 
guese  king  a  petition  for  a  vessel  to  go  in  quest  of  land,  occa 
sionally  seen  to  the  westward  from  that  island.  Similar  stories 
were  not  unknown  to  him  of  like  apparitions  being  familiar  in 
the  Azores.  A  story  which  he  had  also  heard  of  one  Antonio 
Leme  having  seen  three  islands  one  hundred  leagues  west  of  the 
Azores  had  been  set  down  to  a  credulous  eye,  which  had  been 
deceived  by  floating  fields  of  vegetation. 

There  was  no  obstacle  in  the  passing  of  similar  reports  around 
the  Bay  of  Biscay  from  the  coasts  of  the  Basques,  and  the  story 
might  be  heard  of  Jean  de  Echaide,  who  had  found  stores  of 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  129 

stockfish  off  a  land  far  oceanward,  —  an  exploit  supposed  to  be 
commemorated  in  the   island   of  Stokafixia,  which   stands  far 
away  to  the  westward  in  the  Bianco  map  of   1436.     All  these 
tales  of  the  early  visits   of  the   Basques  to  what  imaginative 
minds   have  supposed  parts   of   the  American  coasts  The 
derive  much  of  their  perennial  charm  from  associations  Bas(iues- 
with  a  remarkable  people.     There  is  indeed  nothing  improbable 
in  a  hardy  daring  which  could  have  borne  the  Basques  to  the 
Newfoundland  shores  at  almost  any  date  earlier  than  the  time 
of  Columbus. 

Fructuoso,  writing  as  late  as  1590,  claimed  that  a  Portuguese 
navigator,  Joa"o  Vaz  Cortereal,  had  sailed  to  the  cod-  Newfound. 
fish  coast  of  Newfoundland  as  early  as  1464,  but  Bar-  %£$** 
row  seems  to  be  the  only  writer  of  recent  times  who  V181ted- 
has  believed  the  tale,  and  Biddle  and  Harrisse  find  no  evidence 
to  sustain  it. 

There  is  a  statement  recorded  by  Columbus,  if  we  may  trust 
the  account  of  the  Historic,  that  a  sailor  at  Santa 

-I*-*       -11        -iii*         T  i      •  -i.  i       •  Tartary  sup- 

Maria  had  told  him  how,  being  driven  westerly  in  a  posed  to  be 
voyage  to  Ireland,  he  had  seen  land,  which  he  then 
thought  to  be   Tartary.     Some    similar  experiences  were  also 
told  to  Columbus  by  Pieter  de  Velasco,  of   Galicia ;   and  this 
land,  according  to  the  account,  would  seem  to  have  been  the 
same  sought  at  a  later  day  by  the  Cortereals  (1500). 

It  is  not  easy  to  deal  historically  with  long-held  traditions. 
The  furbishers  of  transmitted  lore  easily  make  it  re-  DubiouB 
fleet  what  they  bring  to  it.  To  find  illustrations  in  Efvoy^1" 
any  inquiry  is  not  so  difficult  if  you  select  what  you  ages- 
wish,  and  discard  all  else,  and  the  result  of  this  discriminating 
accretion  often  looks  very  plausible.  Historical  truth  is  reached 
by  balancing  everything,  and  not  by  assimilating  that  which 
easily  suits.  Almost  all  these  discussions  of  pre-Columbian  voy- 
agings  to  America  afford  illustrations  of  this  perverted  method. 
Events  in  which  there  is  no  inherent  untruth  are  not  left  with 
the  natural  defense  of  probability,  but  are  proved  by  deductions 
and  inferences  which  could  just  as  well  be  applied  to  prove 
many  things  else,  and  are  indeed  applied  in  a  new  way  by 
every  new  upstart  in  such  inquiries.  The  story  of  each  dis 
coverer  before  Columbus  has  been  upheld  by  the  stock  intima 
tion  of  white-bearded  men,  whose  advent  is  somehow  mysteri- 


130 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


ously  discovered  to  have  left  traces  among  the  aborigines  of 
every  section  of  the  coast. 

There  was  another  class  of  evidence  which,  as  the  Historic  in 
forms  us,  served  some  purpose  in  bringing  conviction 
western  land  to  the  mind  of  Columbus.     Such  were  the  phenomenal 
washing  ashore  on  European  coasts  of  unknown  pines 
and  other  trees,  sculptured  logs,  huge  bamboos,  whose  joints 
could  be  made  into  vessels  to  hold  nine  bottles  of  wine,  and  dead 


50 


160* 


Mendten  de  Greenwich 


OCEANIC  CURRENTS. 
[From  Reclus's  Amerique  Sor6ale."\ 

bodies  with  strange,  broad  faces.  Even  canoes,  with  living  men 
in  them  of  wonderful  aspects,  had  at  times  been  reported  as 
thrown  upon  the  Atlantic  islands.  Such  events  had  not  been 
unnoticed  ever  since  the  Canaries  and  the  Azores  had  been  in 
habited  by  a  continental  race,  and  conjectures  had  been  rife  long 
before  the  time  of  Columbus  that  westerly  winds  had  brought 
these  estrays  from  a  distant  land,  —  a  belief  more  comprehensi- 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL.  131 

ble  at  that  time  than  any  dependence  upon  the  unsuspected  fact 
that  it  was  the  oceanic  currents,  rather,  which  impelled  these 
migratory  objects.  It  required  the  experiences  of  later  Spanish 
navigators  along  the  Bahama  Channel,  and  those  of  the  French 
and  English  farther  north  upon  the  Banks  of  New-  Gulf 
foundland,  before  it  became  clear  that  the  currents  stream- 
of  the  Atlantic,  grazing  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  whirling 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  sprayed  in  a  curling  fringe  in  the 
North  Atlantic.  This  in  a  measure  became  patent  to  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert  sixty  or  seventy  years  after  the  death  of 
Columbus. 

If  science  had  then  been  equal  to  the  microscopic  tasks  which 
at  this  day  it  imposes  on  itself,  the  question  of  western  lands 
might  have  been  studied  with  an  interest  beyond  what  attached 
to  the  trunks  of  trees,  carved  timbers,  edible  nuts,  and  seeds  of 
alien  plants,  which  the  Gulf  Stream  is  still  bringing  to  the 
shores  of  Europe.  It  might  have  found  in  the  dust  settling 
upon  the  throngs  of  men  in  the  Old  World,  the  shells  of  animal 
cules,  differing  from  those  known  to  the  observing  eye  in 
Europe,  which,  indeed,  had  been  carried  in  the  upper  currents 
of  air  from  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco. 

Once  in  Portugal,  Columbus  was  brought  in  close  contact 
with  that  eager  spirit  of  exploration  which  had  sur 
vived  the  example  of  Prince  Henry  and  his  naviga-  Portuguese 
tors.     If  Las  Casas  was  well  informed,  these   Portu-  up^rcolum- 
guese  discoveries  were  not  without  great  influence  upon 
the  Genoese's  receptive  mind.     He  was  now  where  he  could 
hear  the  fresh  stories  of  their  extending  acquaintance  with  the 
African  coast.     His  wife's  sister,  by  the  accepted  accounts,  had 
married  Pedro  Correa,  a  navigator  not  without  fame  in  those 
days,  and  a  companion  in  maritime  inquiry  upon  whom  Colum 
bus  could  naturally  depend,  —  unless,  as  Harrisse  decides,  he 
was  no  navigator  at  all.     Columbus  was  also  at  hand  to  observe 
the  growing   skill  in  the  arts  of   navigation  which  gave  the 
Portuguese  their  preeminence.     He  had  not  been  long  in  Lis 
bon  when  Regiomontanus  gave  a  new  power  in  astro-  Ephe 
nomical  calculations  of  positions  at  sea  by  publishing 
his  Ephemerides,  for  the  interval  from  1475  to  1506,   tanus> 
upon  which  Columbus  was  yet  to  depend  in  his  eventful  voyage. 


132 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


The  most  famous  of  the  pupils  of  this  German  mathematician 
was  himself  in  Lisbon  during  the  years  of  Columbus's  sojourn. 
We  have  no  distinct  evidence  that  Martin  Behaim, 
a  Nuremberger,  passed  any  courtesies  with  the  Gen 
oese  adventurer,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  did.  His 

.  Afoe£n  lane  adfole&plancUs.  Sobs&plafctautter  fe 


Martin 
Behaim. 


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SAMPLES  OF  THE  TABLES  OF  REGIOMONTANUS,   1474-1506. 

position  was  one  that  would  attract  Columbus,  who  might  never 
have  been  sought  by  Behaim.  The  Nuremberger's  standing 
was,  indeed,  such  as  to  gain  the  attention  of  the  Court,  and  he 
was  thought  not  unworthy  to  be  joined  with  the  two  royal  physi 
cians,  Roderigo  and  Josef,  on  a  commission  to  improve  the  as 
trolabe.  Their  perfected  results  mark  an  epoch  in  the  art  of 
seamanship  in  that  age. 


COLUMBUS  IN  PORTUGAL. 


133 


THE  AFRICAN  COAST,   1478. 
[From  Nordenskiold's  Facsimile  Atlas.~\ 


134 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


Guinea 
coast,  1482. 


It  was  a  new  sensation  when  news  came  that  at  last  the  Por- 
tuguese  had  crossed  the  equator,  in  pushing  along  the 
^f  rican  coast.  In  January,  1482,  they  had  said  their 

first  mass  on  the  Guinea  coast,  and  the  castle  of  San  Jorge  da 
Mina  was  soon  built  under  the  new  impulse  to  enter- 

reachedjg°  prise  which  came  with  the  accession  of  JoSo  II.  In 
1484  they  reached  the  Congo,  under  the  guidance  of 

Diogo  Cam,  and  Martin  Behaim  was  of  his  company. 


MARTIN   BEHAIM. 

These  voyages  were  not  without  strong  allurements  to  the 
Genoese  sailor.  He  is  thought  to  have  been  a  participant  in 
some  of  the  later  cruises.  The  Historie  claims  that  he  began 
to  reason,  from  his  new  experiences,  that  if  land  could  be  dis 
covered  to  the  south  there  was  much  the  same  chance  of  like 
discoveries  in  the  west.  But  there  were  experiences  of  other 
kinds  which,  in  the  interim,  if  we  believe  the  story,  he  under 
went  in  the  north. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WAS  COLUMBUS  IN  THE  NORTH? 

THERE  is,  in  the  minds  of  some  inquirers  into  the  early  dis 
covery  of  America,  no  more  pivotal  incident  attaching 

i  c     r-t    i         i  n  i  Columbus 

to  the   career  or   Columbus  than   an  alleged  voyage  supposed  to 

...  <«       i  •  IT  i      '          have  sailed 

made  to  the  vicinity  ot  what  is  supposed  to  have  been  beyond  ice- 
Iceland,  in  the  assigned  year  of  1477.     The  incident 
is  surrounded  with  the  confusion  that  belongs   to  everything 
dependent  on  Columbus's  own   statements,  or  on  what  is  put 
forth  as  such. 

Our  chief  knowledge  of  his  voyage  is  in  the  doubtful  Italian 
rendering  of  the  Historie  of  1571,  where,  citing  a  memoir  by 
Columbus  himself  on  the  five  habitable  zones,  the  translator  or 
adapter  of  that  book  makes  the  Admiral  say  that  "  in  Febru 
ary,  1477,  he  sailed  a  hundred  leagues  beyond  the  island  Tile, 
which  lies  under  the  seventy-third  parallel,  and  not  under  the 
sixty-third,  as  some  say."  The  only  evidence  that  he  saw 
Tile,  in  sailing  beyond  it,  is  in  what  he  further  says,  that  he 
was  able  to  ascertain  that  the  tide  rose  and  fell  twenty-six 
fathoms,  which  observation  necessitates  the  seeing  of  some  land, 
whether  Tile  or  not. 

There  is  no  land  at  all  in   the  northern  Atlantic  under  73°. 
Iceland  stretches  from  64°  to  67° ;  Jan  Mayen  is  too 
small  for  Columbus's  further  description  of  the  island,   cies  in  the 
and  is  at  71°,  and  Spitzbergen  is  at  76°.     What  Co 
lumbus  says  of  the  English  of  Bristol  trading  at  this  island 
points  to  Iceland  ;  and  it  is  easy,  if  one  will,  to  imagine  a  mis 
print  of  the  figures,  an  error  of  calculation,  a  carelessness  of 
statement,  or  even  the  disappearance,  through  some  cataclysm, 
of  the  island,  as  has  been  suggested. 

Humboldt  in  his  Cosmos  quotes  Columbus  as  saying  of  this 
voyage  near  Thule  that  "  the  sea  was  not  at  that  time  covered 
with  ice,"  and  he  credits  that  statement  to  the  same  Tratado 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


WAS   COLUMBUS  IN   THE  NORTH?  137 

de  las  Cinco  Zonas  Habitables  of  Columbus,  and  urges  in 
proof  that  Finn  Magnusen  had  found  in  ancient  historical 
sources  that  in  February,  1477,  ice  had  not  set  in  on  the  south 
ern  coast  of  that  island. 

Speaking  of  "  Tile,"  the   same  narrative  adds  that  "  it  is 
west  of  the  western  verge  of  Ptolemy  [that  is,  Ptole 
my's  world  map],  and  larger  than  England."     This 
expression  of  its  size  could  point  only  to  Iceland,  of  all  islands 
in  the  northern  seas. 

There  are  elements  in  the  story,  however,  not  easily  reconcil 
able  with  what  might  be  expected  of  an  experienced  mariner  ; 
and  if  the  story  is  true  in  its  main  purpose,  there  is  little  more 
in  the  details  than  the  careless  inexactness,  which  characterizes 
a  good  many  of  the  well-authenticated  asseverations  of  Colum 
bus. 

Again  the  narrative  says,  "  It  is  true  that  Ptolemy's  Thule 
is  where  that  geographer  placed  it,  but  that  it  is  now  called 
Frislande."  Does  this  mean  that  the  Zeni  story  had  been  a 
matter  of  common  talk  forty  years  after  the  voyage  to  their 
Frisland  had  been  made,  and  eighty-four  years  before  a  later 
scion  of  the  family  published  the  remarkable  narrative  in 
Venice,  in  1558  ?  It  is  possible  that  the  maker  of  the  Historic 
of  1571,  in  the  way  in  which  it  was  given  to  the  Tliezem's 
world,  had  interpolated  this  reference  to  the  Frisland  Fnsland- 
of  the  Zeni  to  help  sustain  the  credit  of  his  own  or  the  other 
book;  though,  being  found  in  Las  Casas,  it  is  not  probable,, 

A  voyage  undertaken  by  Columbus  to  such  high  latitudes  is 
rendered  in  all  respects  doubtful,  to  say  the  least,  from  the  fact 
that  in  1492  Columbus  detailed  for  the  eyes  of  his  sovereigns 
the  unusual  advantages  of  the  harbors  of  the  new  islands  which 
he  had  discovered,  and  added  that  he  was  entitled  to  express 
such  an  opinion,  because  his  exploration  had  extended  from 
Guinea  on  the  south  to  England  on  the  north.  It  was  an  occa 
sion  when  he  desired  to  make  his  acquaintance  seem  as  wide  as 
the  facts  would  warrant,  and  yet  he  does  not  profess  to  have 
been  farther  north  than  England.  A  hundred  leagues,  more 
over,  beyond  Iceland  might  well  have  carried  him  to  the  upper 
Greenland  coast,  but  he  makes  no  mention  of  other  land  being 
seen  in  those  high  latitudes. 

Thyle  and  Iceland  are  made  different  islands  in  the  Ptolemy 


138  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

of  1486,  which,  if  it  does  not  prove  that  Iceland  was  not  then 
and      tne  same  as  Thyle  in  the  mind  of  geographers,  shows 


Iceland.        i\\&t  geographical  confusion  still  prevailed  at  the  north. 

It  may  be  further  remarked  that  Muiioz  and  others  have 
found  no  time  in  Columbus's  career  to  which  this  voyage  to  the 
north  could  so  easily  pertain  as  to  a  period  anterior  to  his  going 
to  Portugal,  and  consequently  some  years  before  the  1477  of 
the  Historic. 

A  voyage  to  Iceland  was  certainly  no  new  thing.  The  Eng- 
The  English  ^sn  traded  there,  and  a  large  commerce  was  main- 
in  Iceland,  tamed  with  it  by  Bristol,  and  had  been  for  many 
years.  A  story  grew  up  at  a  later  day,  and  found  expression  in 
Gomara  and  Wytfliet,  that  in  1476,  the  year  before  this  alleged 
voyage  of  Columbus,  a  Danish  expedition,  under  the  command 
of  the  Pole  Kolno,  or  Skolno,  had  found  in  these 
northern  regions  an  entrance  to  the  straits  of  Anian, 
which  figure  so  constantly  in  later  maps,  and  which  opened  a 
passage  to  the  Indies  ;  but  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  it  had  any  definite  foundation,  and  it  could  hardly 
have  been  known  to  Columbus.  It  is  also  easy  to  conjecture 
that  Columbus  had  been  impelled  to  join  some  English  trading 
vessel  from  Bristol,  through  mere  nautical  curiosity,  and  even 
been  urged  by  reports  which  may  have  reached  him  of  the  north- 
The  zeni  ern  explorations  of  the  Zeni,  long  before  the  accounts 
were  printed.  But  if  he  knew  anything,  he  either 
treasured  it  up  as  a  proof  of  his  theories,  not  yet  to  be  divulged, 
—  why  is  not  clear,  —  or,  what  is  vastly  more  probable,  it  never 
occurred  to  him  to  associate  any  of  these  dim  regions  with  the 
coasts  of  Marco  Polo's  Cathay. 

There  was  no  lack  of  stories,  even  at  this  time,  of  venture 

some  voyages  west  along  the   latitude  of  England  and  to  the 

northwest,  and  of  these  tales  Columbus  may  possibly  have  heard. 

Such  was  the   story  which  had  been  obscurely  recorded,  that 

Madoc,  a  Welsh  chieftain,  in  the  later  years  of  the 

twelfth  century  had  carried   a  colony  westerly.     Nor 

can  it  be  positively  asserted  that  the  Estotiland  and  Drogeo 

of  the  Zeni  narrative,  then  lying  in  the  cabinet  of  an  Italian 

family  unknown,  had  ever  come  to  his  knowledge. 

There  are  stories  in  the  Historic  of  reports  which  had 
reached  him,  that  mariners  sailing  for  Ireland  had  been  driven 


WAS   COLUMBUS  IN   THE  NORTH?  139 

west,  and  had  sighted  land  which  had  been  supposed  to  be  Tar- 
tary,  which  at  a  later  day  was  thought  to  be  the  Baccalaos  of 
the  Cortereals. 

The  island  of  Bresil  had  been  floating  about  the  Atlantic, 
usually  in  the  latitude  of  Ireland,  since  the  days  when 
the  maker  of  the  Catalan  planisphere,  in  1375,  placed  Brazil!  °r 
it  in  that  sea,  and  current  stories  of  its  existence  re 
sulted,  at  a  later  day  (1480),  in  the  sending  from  Bristol  of  an 
expedition  of  search,  as  has  already  been  said. 

Finn  Magnusen   among  the    Scandinavian  writers,  and  De 
Costa  and  others  among  Americans,  have  thought  it 
probable  that  Columbus  landed  at  Hualfiord,  in  Ice-   bus  laSd^n 
land.      Columbus,  however,  does   not  give  sufficient 
ground  for  any  such  inference.    He  says  he  went  beyond  Thule, 
not  to  it,  whatever  Thule  was,  and  we  only  know  by  his  obser 
vations  on  the  tides,  that  he  approached  dry  land. 

Laing,  in  his  introduction  to  the  Heimskringla,  says  confi 
dently  that  Columbus  "  came  to  Iceland  from  Bristol,  in  1477, 
on  purpose  to  gain  nautical  information,"  -  —  an  inference  merely, 
—  "  and  must  have  heard  of  the  written  accounts  of 
the  Norse  discoveries  recorded  in"  the  Codex  Flato-  nusmice- 
yensis.     Laing  says  again  that  as  Bishop  Magnus  is 
known  to  have  been  in  Iceland  in  the  spring  of  1477,  "  it  is 
presumed  Columbus  must  have  met  and  conversed  with  him  "  ! 

A  great  deal  turns  on  this  purely  imaginary  conversation, 
and  the  possibilities  of  its  scope. 

The  listening  Columbus  might,  indeed,  have  heard  of  Irish 
monks  and  their  followers,  who  had   been   found  in  The  Norse  in 
Iceland  by  the  first  Norse  visitors,  six  hundred  years  Iceland- 
before,  if  perchance  the  traditions  of  them  had  been  preserved, 
and  these  may  even  have  included  the  somewhat  vague  stories 
of  visits  to  a  country  somewhere,  which  they  called  Ireland  the 
Great.     Possibly,  too,  there  were  stories  told  at  the  firesides  of 
the  adventures  of  a  sea-rover,  Gunnbiorn  by  name,  who  had 
been  driven  westerly  from   Iceland  and  had   seen  a  Ericthe 
strange  land,  which  after  some  years  was  visited  by   Red- 
Eric  the  Red ;  and  there  might  have  been  wondrous  stories  told 
of  this  same  land,  which  Eric  had  called  Greenland, 

..  .  -ill-  Greenland. 

in  order  to  lure  settlers,  where  there  is  some  reason  to 

believe  yet  earlier  wanderers  had  found  a  home.     There  might 


140  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

possibly  have  been  shown  to  Columbus  an  old  manuscript  chron 
icle  of  the  kings  of  Norway,  which  they  called  the  Heims- 

kringla,  and  which  had  been  written  by  Snorre  Stur- 

lason  in  the  thirteenth  century  ;  and  if  he  had  turned 
the  leaves  with  any  curiosity,  he  could  have  read,  or  have  had 
translated  for  him.  accounts  of  the  Norse  colonization  of  Green 
land  in  the  ninth  century.  Where,  then,  was  this  Greenland  ? 
Could  it  possibly  have  had  any  connection  with  that  Cathay  of 
Marco  Polo,  so  real  in  the  vision  of  Columbus,  and  which  was 
supposed  to  lie  above  India  in  the  higher  latitudes  ?  As  a  stu 
dent  of  contemporary  cartography,  Columbus  would  have  an- 
Position  of  swered  such  a  question  readily,  had  it  been  suggested ; 
Greenland.  £or  ^Q  WOuld  have  known  that  Greenland  had  been 
represented  in  all  the  maps,  since  it  was  first  recognized  at  all, 
as  merely  an  extended  peninsula  of  Scandinavia,  made  by  a 
southward  twist  to  enfold  a  northern  sea,  in  which  Iceland  lay. 
One  certainly  cannot  venture  to  say  how  far  Columbus  may 
have  had  an  acquaintance  with  the  cartographical  repertories, 
more  or  less  well  stocked,  as  they  doubtless  were,  in  the  great 
commercial  centres  of  maritime  Europe,  but  the  knowledge 
which  we  to-day  have  in  detail  could  hardly  have  been  other 
wise  than  a  common  possession  among  students  of  geography 

then.  We  comprehend  now  how,  as  far  back  as  1427, 
be  a  part  of  a  map  of  Claudius  Clavus  showed  Greenland  as  this 

peninsular  adjunct  to  the  northwest  of  Europe,  —  a 
view  enforced  also  in  a  map  of  1447,  in  the  Pitti  palace,  and 
in  one  which  Nordenskiold  recently  found  in  a  Codex  of  Ptol 
emy  at  Warsaw,  dated  in  1467.  A  few  years  later,  and  cer 
tainly  before  Columbus  could  have  gone  on  this  voyage,  we  find 
a  map  which  it  is  more  probable  he  could  have  known,  and  that 
is  the  engraved  one  of  Nicholas  Donis,  drawn  presumably  in 
1471,  and  later  included  in  the  edition  of  Ptolemy  published 
at  Ulm  in  1482.  The  same  European  connection  is  here  main 
tained.  Again  it  is  represented  in  the  map  of  Henricus  Mar- 
tellus  (1489-90),  in  a  way  that  produced  a  succession  of 
maps,  which  till  long  after  the  death  of  Columbus  continued  to 
make  this  Norse  colony  a  territorial  appendage  of  Scandinavian 
Europe,  betraying  not  the  slightest  symptom  of  a  belief  that 
Eric  the  Red  had  strayed  beyond  the  circle  of  European  con 
nections.  It  is  only  when  we  get  down  to  the  later  years  of  Co- 


WAS  COLUMBUS  IN   THE  NORTH? 


141 


CLAUDIUS  CLAVUS,  1427. 
[From  Nordenskiold's  Studien.] 


142 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


WAS   COLUMBUS  IN  THE  NORTH?  143 

lumbus's  life  that  we  find,  on  a  Portuguese  chart  of  1503,  a 
glimmer  of  the  truth,  and  this  only  transiently,  though  the  con 
ception  of  the  mariners,  upon  which  this  map  was  based,  prob 
ably  associated  Greenland  with  the  Asiatic  main,  as  Madeapart 
Ruysch  certainly  did,  by  a  bold  effort  to  reconcile  the  of  Asia- 
Norse  traditions  with  the  new  views  of  his  time,  when  he  pro 
duced  the  first  engraved  map  of  the  discoveries  of  Columbus 
and  Cabot  in  the  Roman  Ptolemy  of  1508. 

It  is  thus  beyond  dispute  that  if  Columbus  entertained  any 
views  as  to  the  geographical  relations  of  Greenland,  which  had 
been  practically  lost  to  Europe  since  communication  with  it 
ceased,  earlier  in  the  fifteenth  century,  they  were  simply  those 
of  a  peninsula  of  northern  Europe,  which  could  have  no  connec 
tion  with  any  country  lying  beyond  the  Atlantic  ;  for  it  was  not 
till  after  his  death  that  any  general  conception  of  it  associated 
with  the  Asiatic  main  arose.  It  is  quite  certain,  however,  that 
as  the  conception  began  to  prevail,  after  the  discovery  of  the 
South  Sea  by  Balboa,  in  1513,  that  an  interjacent  new 
world  had  really  been  found,  there  was  a  tendency,  as  a  part  of 
shown  in  the  map  of  Thorne  (1527),  representing  cur 
rent  views  in  Spain,  and  in  those  of  Finseus  (1531),  Ziegler 
(1532),  Mercator  (1538),  and  Bordone  (1528-1547),  to  rele 
gate  the  position  of  Greenland  to  a  peninsular  connection  with 
Europe. 

There  is  a  curious  instance  of  the  evolution  of  the  correct 
idea  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1525,  and  repeated  in  the  same  plate  as 
used  in  the  editions  of  1535  and  1545.  The  map  was  originally 
engraved  to  show  "  Gronlandia  "  as  a  European  peninsula,  but 
apparently,  at  a  later  stage,  the  word  Gronlandia  was  cut  in  the 
corner  beside  the  sketch  of  an  elephant,  and  farther  west,  as  if 
to  indicate  its  transoceanic  and  Asiatic  situation,  though  there 
was  no  attempt  to  draw  in  a  coast  line. 

Later  in  the  century  there  was  a  strife  of  opinion  between  the 
geographers  of  the  north,  as  represented  in  the  Olaus  Laterdi. 
Magnus  map  of  1567,  who  disconnected  the  country  verse  views- 
from  Europe,  and  those  of  the  south,  who  still  united  Green 
land  with  Scandinavia,  as  was  done  in  the  Zeno  map  of  1558. 
By  this  time,  however,  the  southern  geographers  had  begun  to 
doubt,  and  after  1540  we  find  Labrador  and  Greenland  put  in 
close  proximity  in  many  of  their  maps ;  and  in  this  the  editors 


144  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

of  the  Ptolemy  of  1561  agreed,  when  they  altered  their  reen- 
graved  map  —  as  the  plate  shows  —  in  a  way  to  disconnect 
Greenland  from  Scandinavia. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  trace  the  cartographical  history  of 
Greenland  to  a  later  day.  It  is  manifest  that  it  was  long  after 
Columbus's  death  when  the  question  was  raised  of  its  having 
any  other  connection  than  with  Europe,  and  Columbus  could 
have  learned  in  Iceland  nothing  to  suggest  to  him  that  the  land 
of  Eric  the  Red  had  any  connection  with  the  western  shores  of 
Asia,  of  which  he  was  dreaming. 

If  any  of  the  learned  men  in  Iceland  had  referred  Columbus 
Discovery  of  once  more  to  the  Helmskringla,  it  would  have  been  to 
the  brief  entry  which  it  shows  in  the  records  as  the 
leading  Norse  historian  made  it,  of  the  story  of  the  discovery  of 
Vinland.  There  he  would  have  read,  "  Leif  also  found  Vinland 
the  Good,"  and  he  could  have  read  nothing  more.  There  was 
nothing  in  this  to  excite  the  most  vivid  imagination  as  to  place 
or  direction. 

It  was  not  till  a  time  long  after  the  period  of  Columbus  that, 
so  far  as  we  know,  any  cartographical  records  of  the 
vian  views  discoveries  associated  with  the  Vinland  voyages  were 
made  in  the  north;  and  not  till  the  discoveries  of 
Columbus  and  his  successors  were  a  common  inheritance  in 
Europe  did  some  of  the  northern  geographers,  in  1570,  under 
take  to  reconcile  the  tales  of  the  sagas  with  the  new  beliefs. 
The  testimony  of  these  later  maps  is  presumably  the  transmitted 
view  then  held  in  the  north  from  the  interpretation  of  the 
Norse  sagas  in  the  light  of  later  knowledge.  This  testimony  is 
that  the  "  America  "  of  the  Spaniards,  including  Terra  Florida 
and  the  "  Albania  "  of  the  English,  was  a  territory  south  of  the 
Stephana's  Norse  region  and  beyond  a  separating  water,  very 
map,  1570.  likely  that  of  Davjs>  Straits.  The  map  of  Sigurd 
Stephanius  of  this  date  (1570}  puts  Vinland  north  of  the 
Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  and  makes  it  end  at  the  south  in  a  "  wild 
sea,"  which  separates  it  [B  of  map]  from  "  America."  Torfseus 
quotes  Torlacius  as  saying  that  this  map  of  Stephanius's  was 
drawn  from  ancient  Icelandic  records.  If  this  cartographical 
record  has  its  apparent  value,  it  is  not  likely  that  Columbus 
could  have  seen  in  it  anything  more  than  a  manifestation  of 
that  vague  boreal  region  which  was  far  remote  from  the 


WAS   COLUMBUS  IN  THE  NORTH? 


145 


thoughts  which  possessed  him,  in  seeking  a  way  to  India  over 
against  Spain. 

Beside  the   scant  historic  record  respecting  Vinland  which 
has  been  cited  from  the  Heimskringla,  it  is  further  Dubioua 
possible  that  Columbus  may  have  seen  that  series  of  s 
sagas  which  had  come  down  in  oral  shape  to  the  twelfth  cen 
tury.     At  this  period  put  into  writing,  two  hundred  years  after 


SIGURD  STEPHANIUS,  1570. 

the  events  of  the  Vinland  voyages,  there  are  none  of  the  manu 
script  copies  of  these  sagas  now  existing  which  go  back  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  This  rendering  of  the  old  sagas  into  script 
came  at  a  time  when,  in  addition  to  the  inevitable  transforma 
tions  of  long  oral  tradition,  there  was  superadded  the  roman 
cing  spirit  then  rife  in  the  north,  and  which  had  come  to  them 
from  the  south  of  Europe.  The  result  of  this  blending  of  con 
fused  tradition  with  the  romancing  of  the  period  of  the  written 


146  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

preservation  has  thrown,  even  among  the  Scandinavians  them, 
selves,  a  shade  of  doubt,  more  or  less  intense  at  times,  which 
envelops  the  saga  record  with  much  that  is  indistinguishable 
from  myth,  leaving  little  but  the  general  drift  of  the  story  to  be 
held  of  the  nature  of  a  historic  record.  The  Icelandic  editor 
of  Egel's  saga,  published  at  Reikjavik  in  1856,  acknowledges 
this  unavoidable  reflex  of  the  times  when  the  sagas  were  re 
duced  to  writing,  and  the  most  experienced  of  the  recent  writers 
on  Greenland,  Henrik  Rink,  has  allowed  the  untrustworthiness 
of  the  sagas  except  for  their  general  scope. 

Less  than  a  hundred  years  before  the  alleged  visit  of  Colum- 
bus  to  Thule,  there  had  been  a  compilation  of  some  of 
tne  earlv  sagas?  an(j  tnis  Qodex  Flcitoyensis  is  the 
only  authority  which  we  have  for  any  details  of  the  Vinland 
voyages.  It  is  possible  that  the  manuscript  now  known  is  but 
one  copy  of  several  or  many  which  may  have  been  made  at  an 
early  period,  not  preceding,  however,  the  twelfth  century,  when 
writing  was  introduced.  This  particular  manuscript  was  discov 
ered  in  an  Icelandic  monastery  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  of  its  being  known  before.  Of  course  it  is 
possible  that  copies  may  have  been  in  the  hands  of  learned  Ice 
landers  at  the  time  of  Columbus's  supposed  voyage  to  the  north, 
and  he  may  have  heard  of  it,  or  have  had  parts  of  it  read  to 
him.  The  collection  is  recognized  by  Scandinavian  writers  as 
being  the  most  confused  and  incongruous  of  similar  records; 
and  it  is  out  of  such  romancing,  traditionary,  and  conflicting  re 
citals  that  the  story  of  the  Norse  voyages  to  Vinland  is  made, 
Lett  if  it  is  made  at  all.  The  sagas  say  that  it  was  six- 

Erikson.  ^een  wjnters  after  the  settlement  of  Greenland  that 
Leif  went  to  Norway,  and  in  the  next  year  he  sailed  to  Vinland. 
These  are  the  data  from  which  the  year  A.  D.  1000  has  been  de 
duced  as  that  of  the  beginning  of  the  Vinland  voyages.  The 
principal  events  are  to  be  traced  in  the  saga  of  Eric  the  Red, 
which,  in  the  judgment  of  Rask,  a  leading  Norse  authority,  is 
"  somewhat  fabulous,  written  long  after  the  event,  and  taken 
from  tradition." 

Such,  then,  was  the  record  which,  if  it  ever  came  to  the  no 
tice  of  Columbus,  was  little  suited  to  make  upon  him  any 
impression  to  be  associated  in  his  mind  with  the -Asia  of  his 
dreams.  Humboldt,  discussing  the  chances  of  Columbus's  gain- 


WAS  COLUMBUS  IN  THE  NORTH?  147 

ing  any  knowledge  of  the  story,  thinks  that  when  the  Spanish 
Crown  was  contesting  with  the  heirs  of  the  Admiral  his  rights 
of  discovery,  the  citing  of  these  northern  experiences  of  Co 
lumbus  would  have  been  in  the  Crown's  favor,  if  there  had  been 
any  conception  at  that  time  that  the  Norse  discoveries,  even  if 
known  to  general  Europe,  had  any  relation  to  the  geographical 
problems  then  under  discussion.  Similar  views  have  been  ex 
pressed  by  Wheaton  and  Prescott,  and  there  is  no  evidence  that 
up  to  the  Jime  of  Columbus  an  acquaintance  with  the  Vinland 
story  had  ever  entered  into  the  body  of  historical  knowledge 
possessed  by  Europeans  in  general.  The  scant  references  in 
the  manuscripts  of  Adam  of  Bremen  (A.  D.  1073),  of  Ordericus 
Vitalis  (A.  D.  1140),  and  of  Saxo  Grammaticus  (A.  D.  1200), 
were  not  likely  to  be  widely  comprehended,  even  if  they  were 
at  all  known,  and  a  close  scrutiny  of  the  literature  of  Pering. 
the  subject  does  not  seem  to  indicate  that  there  was  tSn^thf" 
any  considerable  means  of  propagating  a  knowledge  sagas* 
of  the  sagas  before  Peringskiold  printed  them  in  1697,  two 
hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Columbus.  This  editor  inserted 
them  in  an  edition  of  the  Heimslcringla  and  concealed  the 
patchwork.  This  deception  caused  it  afterwards  to-  be  sup 
posed  that  the  accounts  in  the  Heimskringla  had  been  inter 
polated  by  some  later  reviser  of  the  chronicle  ;  but  the  truth 
regarding  Peringskiold's  action  was  ultimately  known. 

Basing,  then,  their  investigation  on  a  narrative  confessedly 
confused  and  unauthentic,  modern  writers  have  sought  to  deter 
mine  with  precision  the  fact  of  Norse  visits  to  British  America, 
and  to  identify  the  localities.  The  fact  that  every  investigator 
finds  geographical  correspondences  where  he  likes,  and  quite 
independently  of  all  others,  is  testimony  of  itself  to  the  confused 
condition  of  the  story.  The  soil  of  the  United  States  and  Nova 
Scotia  contiguous  to  the  Atlantic  may  now  safely  be  said  to 
have  been  examined  by  competent  critics  sufficiently  to  affirm 
that  no  archaeological  trace  of  the  presence  of  the  Norse  here 
is  discernible.  As  to  such  a  forbidding  coast  as  that  of  Labra 
dor,  there  has  been  as  yet  no  such  familiarity  with  it  by  trained 
archaeologists  as  to  render  it  reasonably  certain  that  some  trace 
may  not  be  found  there,  and  on  this  account  George  Probabm- 
Bancroft  allows  the  possibility  that  the  Norse  may  ties' 
have  reached  that  coast.  There  remains,  then,  no  evidence 


148  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

beyond  a  strong  probability  that  the  Norse  from  Greenland 
crossed  Davis'  Straits  and  followed  south  the  American  coast. 
That  indisputable  archa3ological  proofs  may  yet  be  found  to 
establish  the  fact  of  their  southern  course  and  sojourn  is  cer 
tainly  possible.  Meanwhile  we  must  be  content  that  there  is  no 
testimony  satisfactory  to  a  careful  historical  student,  that  this 
course  and  such  sojourn  ever  took  place.  A  belief  in  it  must 
rest  on  the  probabilities  of  the  case. 

Many  writers  upon  the  Norseman  discovery  would  do  well  to 
remember  the  advice  of  Ampere  to  present  as  doubtful  what  is 
true,  sooner  than  to  give  as  true  what  is  doubtful. 

"  Ignorance,"  says  Munoz,  in  speaking  of  the  treacherous 
grounds  of  unsupported  narrative,  "  is  generally  accompanied 
by  vanity  and  temerity." 

It  is  an  obvious  and  alluring  supposition  that  this  story 
Did  coium-  should  have  been  presented  to  Columbus,  whatever  the 
the  igar  °f  effect  may  have  been  on  his  mind.  Lowell  in  a  poem 
pardonably  pictures  him  as  saying  :  — 

"  I  brooded  on  the  wise  Athenian's  tale 
Of  happy  Atlantis  ;  and  heard  Bjorne's  keel 
Crunch  the  gray  pebbles  of  the  Vinland  shore, 
For  I  believed  the  poets." 

But  the  belief  is  only  a  proposition.  Rafn  and  other  ex 
treme  advocates  of  the  Norse  discovery  have  made  as  much  as 
they  could  of  the  supposition  of  Columbus's  cognizance  of  the 
Norse  voyages.  Laing  seems  confident  that  this  contact  must 
have  happened.  The  question,  however,  must  remain  unsettled ; 
and  whether  Columbus  landed  in  Iceland  or  not,  and  whether 
the  bruit  of  the  Norse  expeditions  struck  his  ears  elsewhere  or 
not,  the  fact  of  his  never  mentioning  them,  when  he  summoned 
every  supposable  evidence  to  induce  acceptance  of  his  views, 
seems  to  be  enough  to  show  at  least  that  to  a  mind  possessed  as 
his  was  of  the  scheme  of  finding  India  by  the  west  the  stories 
of  such  northern  wandering  offered  no  suggestion  applicable  to 
his  purpose.  It  is,  moreover,  inconceivable  that  Columbus 
should  have  taken  a  course  southwest  from  the  Canaries,  if  he 
had  been  prompted  in  any  way  by  tidings  of  land  in  the  north 
west. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

COLUMBUS    LEAVES    PORTUGAL    FOR   SPAIN. 

IT  is  a  rather  striking  fact,  as  Harrisse  puts  it,  that  we  can 
not  place  with  an  exact  date  any  event  in  Columbus's  Coiumbus's 
life  from  August  7,  1473,  when  a  document  shows  him  o^ms-0' 
to  have  been  in  Savona,  Italy,  till  he  received  at  Cor-  148T* 
doba,  Spain,  from  the  treasurer  of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  his 
first  gratuity  on  May  5,  1487,  as  is  shown  by  the  entry  in  the 
books,  "given  this  day  3,000  rnaravedis,"  about  $18,  "to  Cris 
tobal  Colomo,  a  stranger."  The  events  of  this  period  of  about 
fourteen  years  were  those  which  made  possible  his  later  career. 
The  incidents  connected  with  this  time  have  become  the  shuttle 
cocks  which  have  been  driven  backward  and  forward  in  their 
chronological  bearings,  by  all  who  have  undertaken  to  study 
the  details  of  this  part  of  Columbus's  life.  It  is  nearly  as  true 
now  as  it  was  when  Prescott  wrote,  that  "  the  discrepancies 
among  the  earliest  authorities  are  such  as  to  render  hopeless 
any  attempt  to  settle  with  precision  the  chronology  of  Colum 
bus's  movements  previous  to  his  first  voyage." 

The  motives  which  induced  him  to  abandon  Portugal,  where 
he  had  married,  and  where  he  had  apparently  found 
not  a  little  to  reconcile  him -to  his  exile,  are  not  ob-  for  leaving8 
scure  ones  as  detailed  in  the  ordinary  accounts  of  his 
life.     All  these  narratives  are  in  the  main  based,  first,  on  the 
Historic  (1571)  ;  secondly,  on  the  great  historical  work  Chief 
of  Joam   de  Barros,  pertaining  to  the  discoveries  of  ^ur8 
the  Portuguese  in  the  East  Indies,  first  published  in  knowledge- 
1552,  and  still  holding  probably  the  loftiest  position  in  the  his 
torical  literature  of  that  country  ;  and,  finally,  on  the  lives  of 
Joao  II.,  then  monarch  of  Portugal,  by  Kuy  de  Pina  and  by 
Vasconcellos.     The  latter  borrowing  in  the  main  from  the  for 
mer,  was  exclusively  used  by  Irving.      Las  Casas  apparently 
depended  on  Barros  as  well  as  on  the  Historic.     It  is  neces- 


150  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

sary  to  reconcile  their  statements,  as  well  as  it  can  be  done,  to 
get  even  an  inductive  view  of  the  events  concerned. 

The  treatment  of  the '  subject  by  Irving  would  make  it  cer 
tain  that  it  was  a  new  confidence  in  the  ability  to  make  long 
voyages,  inspired  by  the  improvements  of  the  astrolabe  as  di 
rected  by  Behaim,  that  first  gave  Columbus  the  assurance  to 
ask  for  royal  patronage  of  the  maritime  scheme  which  had 
been  developing  in  his  mind. 

Just  what  constituted  the  acquaintance  of  Columbus  with 
Columbus  Behaim  is  not  clearly  established.  Herrera  speaks 
and  Behaim.  o£  ^nem  as  friends.  Humboldt  thinks  some  intimacy 
between  them  may  have  existed,  but  finds  no  decisive  proof  of 
it.  Behaim  had  spent  much  of  his  life  in  Lisbon  and  in  the 
Azores,  and  there  are  some  striking  correspondences  in  their 
careers,  if  we  accept  the  usual  accounts.  They  were  born  and 
died  in  the  same  year.  Each  lived  for  a  while  on  an  Atlantic 
island,  the  Nuremberger  at  Fayal,  and  the  Genoese  at  Porto 
Santo  ;  and  each  married  the  daughter  of  the  governor  of  his 
respective  island.  They  pursued  their  nautical  studies  at  the 
same  time  in  Lisbon,  and  the  same  physicians  who  reported 
to  the  Portuguese  king  upon  Columbus' s  scheme  of  westward 
sailing  were  engaged  with  Behaim  in  perfecting  the  sea  astro 
labe. 

The  account  of  the  audience  with  the  king  which  we  find  in 
the  Historie  is  to  the  effect  that  Columbus  finally 
and  the  king  succeeded  in  inducing  Joao  to  believe  in  the  practica 
bility  of  a  western  passage  to  Asia ;  but  that  the 
monarch  could  not  be  brought  to  assent  to  all  the  titular  and 
pecuniary  rewards  which  Columbus  contended  for  as  emolu 
ments  of  success,  and  that  a  commission,  to  whom  the  monarch 
referred  the  project,  pronounced  the  views  of  Columbus  simply 
chimerical.  Barros  represents  that  the  advances  of  Columbus 
were  altogether  too  arrogant  and  fantastic  ever  to  have  gained 
the  consideration  of  the  king,  who  easily  disposed  of  the  Gen 
oese's  pretentious  importunities  by  throwing  the  burden  of  de 
nial  upon  a  commission.  This  body  consisted  of  the  two  physi 
cians  of  the  royal  household,  already  mentioned,  Roderigo  and 
Josef,  to  whom  was  added  Cazadilla,  the  Bishop  of  Ceuta. 

Vasconcellos's  addition  to  this  story,  which  he  derived  almost 
entirely  from  Ruy  de  Pina,  Resende,  and  Barros,  is  that  there 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR  SPAIN.       151 

was  subsequently  another  reference  to  a  royal  council,  in  which 
the  subject  was  discussed  in  arguments,  of  which  that  historian 
preserves  some  reports.  This  discussion  went  farther  than  was 
perhaps  intended,  since  Cazadilla  proceeded  to  discourage  all 
attempts  at  exploration  even  by  the  African  route,  as  imperil 
ing  the  safety  of  the  state,  because  of  the  money  which  was 
required ;  and  because  it  kept  at  too  great  a  distance  for  an 
emergency  a  considerable  force  in  ships  and  men.  In  fact  the 
drift  of  the  debate  seems  to  have  ignored  the  main  projects  as 
of  little  moment  and  as  too  visionary,  and  the  energy  of  the 
hour  was  centered  in  a  rallying  speech  made  by  the  Count  of 
Villa  Real,  who  endeavored  to  save  the  interests  of  African 
exploration.  The  count's  speech  quite  accomplished  its  pur 
pose,  if  we  can  trust  the  reports,  since  it  reassured  the  rather 
drooping  energies  of  the  king,  and  induced  some  active  meas 
ures  to  reach  the  extremity  of  Africa. 

In  August,  1486,  Bartholomew  Diaz,  the  most  eminent  of  a 
line  of  Portuguese  navigators,  had   departed   on  the 

8  Diaz's  Afri- 

African  route,  with  two  consorts.     As  he  neared  the  can  voyage, 

I486 

latitude  of  the  looked-for  Cape,  he  was  driven  south, 
and  forced  away  from  the  land,  by  a  storm.     When  he  was 
enabled  to  return  on  his  track  he  struck  the  coast,  really  to  the 
eastward  of  the  true  cape,  though  he  did  not  at  the  time  know 
it.     This  was  in  May,  1487.     His  crew  being  unwilling  to  pro 
ceed  farther,  he  finally  turned  westerly,  and  in  due  time  dis 
covered  what  he  had  done.     The  first  passage  of  the  Cape  was 
thus  made  while   sailing  west,  just   as,  possibly,  the  Passesthe 
mariners  of  the  Indian  seas  may  have  done.     In  De-  Cape' 
cember  he  was  back  in  Lisbon  with  the  exhilarating1  news,  and 

o 

it  was  probably  conveyed  to  Columbus,  who  was  then  in  Spain, 
by  his  brother  Bartholomew,  the  companion  of  Diaz  in  this 
eventful  voyage,  as  Las  Casas  discovered  by  an  entry  made  by 
Bartholomew  himself  in  a  copy  of  D'Ailly's  Imago  Mundi. 
Thirty  years  before,  as  we  have  seen,  Fra  Mauro  had  pre 
figured  the  Cape  in  his  map,  but  it  was  now  to  be  put  on  the 
charts  as  a  geographical  discovery  ;  and  by  1490,  or  there 
abouts,  succeeding  Portuguese  navigators  had  pushed  up  the 
east  coast  of  Africa  to  a  point  shown  in  a  map  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum,  but  not  far  enough  to  connect  with  what  was 
supposed  with  some  certainty  to  be  the  limit  reached  during 


152 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


the  voyages  of  the  Arabian  navigators,  while  sailing  south  from 
the  Red  Sea.  There  was  apparently  not  a  clear  conception  in 
the  minds  of  the  Portuguese,  at  this  time,  just  how  far  from  the 
Cape  the  entrance  of  the  Arabian  waters  really  was.  It  is  possi 
ble  that  intelligence  may  have  thus  early  come  from  the  Indian 


PORTUGUESE  MAPPEMONDE,  1490. 
[Sketched  from  the  original  MS.  in  the  British  Museum.] 

Ocean,  by  way  of  the  Mediterranean,  that  the  Oriental  sailors 
knew  of  the  great  African  cape  by  approaching  it  from  the 
east.  Such  knowledge,  if  held  to  be  visionary,  was,  however, 
established  with  some  certainty  in  men's  minds  before  Da 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       153 

Gama  actually  effected  the  passage  of  the   Cape.     This  con 
firmation  had  doubtless  come  through  some   mission 
aries  of  the  Portuguese  king,  who  in  1490  sent  such 


^    •  to  Egypt. 

a  positive  message  irom  Cairo. 

But  while  the  new  exertions  along  the  African  coast,  thus 
inadvertently  instigated  by  Columbus,  were  making,  what  was 
becoming  of  his  own  westward  scheme  ? 

The  story  goes  that  it  was  by  the  advice  of  Cazadilla  that  the 
Portuguese  king  lent  himself  to  an  unworthy  device.  Thep0rtu- 
This  was  a  project  to  test  the  views  of  Columbus,  and 
profit  by  them  without  paying  him  his  price.  An  out- 
line  of  his  intended  voyage  had  been  secured  from  ColumbU8 
him  in  the  investigation  already  mentioned.  A  caravel,  under 
pretense  of  a  voyage  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  was  now 
dispatched  to  search  for  the  Qipango  of  Marco  Polo,  in  the 
position  which  Columbus  had  given  it  in  his  chart.  The  mer 
cenary  craft  started  out,  and  buffeted  with  head  seas  and  angry 
winds  long  enough  to  emasculate  what  little  courage  the  crew 
possessed.  Without  the  prop  of  conviction  they  deserted  their 
purpose  and  returned.  Once  in  port,  they  began  to  berate  the 
Genoese  for  his  foolhardy  scheme.  In  this  way  they  sought  to 
vindicate  their  own  timidity.  This  disclosed  to  Columbus  the 
trick  which  had  been  played  upon  him.  Such  is  the  story  as 
the  Historie  tells  it,  and  which  has  been  adopted  by  Herrera 
and  others. 

At  this  point  there  is  too  much  uncertainty  respecting  the 
movements  of  Columbus  for  even  his  credulous  biog 
raphers  to  fill  out  the  tale.      It  seems  to  be  agreed  leaves  Por- 
that  in  the  latter  part  of  1484  he  left  Portugal  with 
a  secrecy  which  was  supposed  to  be  necessary  to  escape  the 
vigilance  of  the  government  spies.     There  is  beside  some  rea 
son  for  believing  that  it  was  also  well  for  him  to  shun  arrest 
for  debts,  which  had  been  incurred  in  the  distractions  of  his 
affairs. 

There  is  no  other  authority  than  Ramusio  for  believing  with 
Mufioz  that  Columbus  had    already   laid    his    project   Supp0sed 
before  the  government  of  Genoa  by  letter,  and  that  he  Joiumbus  to 
now  went  to  reenforce  it  in  person,     That  power  was   Genoa* 
sorely  pressed  with  misfortunes  at  this  time,  and  is  said  to  have 


154  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

declined  to  entertain  his  proposals.  It  may  be  the  applicant 
was  dismissed  contemptuously,  as  is  sometimes  said.  It  is  not, 
however,  as  Harrisse  has  pointed  out,  till  we  come  down  to 
Cassoni,  in  his  Annals  of  Genoa,  published  in  1708,  that  we 
find  a  single  Genoese  authority  crediting  the  story  of  this  visit 
to  Genoa.  Harrisse,  with  his  skeptical  tendency,  does  not 
believe  the  statement. 

Eagerness   to  fill  the  gaps   in   his  itinerary  has   sometimes 
induced    the    supposition    that   Columbus    made    an 
visfttTven-  equally  unsuccessful  offer  to  Venice;   but  the  state 
ment  is  not  found  except  in  modern  writers,  with  no 
other  citations  to  sustain  it  than  the  recollections  of  some  one 
who  had  seen  at  some  time  in  the  archives  a  memorial  to  this 
effect  made  by  Columbus.     Some  writers  make  him  at  this  time 
also  visit  his   father  and  provide  for  his  comfort,  —  a  belief 
not  altogether  consonant  with  the  supposition  of  Columbus's  es 
cape  from  Portugal  as  a  debtor. 

Irving  and  the  biographers  in  general  find  in  the  death  of 
The  death  of  Columbus's  wif  e  a  severing  of  the  ties  which  bound 
him  to  Portugal;  but  if  there  is  any  truth  in  the 
tumultuous  letter  which  Columbus  wrote  to  Dofia  Juana  de  la 
shown  to  be  Torre  in  1500,  he  left  behind  him  in  Portugal,  when 
uncertain.  he  fled  into  gp^  a  ^fg  and  children.  If  there  is 

the  necessary  veracity  in  the  Historic,  this  wife  had  died  before 
he  abandoned  the  country.  That  he  had  other  children  at  this 
time  than  Diego  is  only  known  through  this  sad,  ejaculatory 
epistle.  If  he  left  a  wife  in  Portugal,  as  his  own  words  aver, 
Harrisse  seems  justified  in  saying  that  he  deserted  her,  and 
in  the  same  letter  Columbus  himself  says  that  he  never  saw  her 
again.  This  letter  is  a  sequel  to  a  better  known  epistle. 

Ever  since  a  physician  of  Palos,  Garcia  Fernandez,  gave  his 
Convent  of  testimony  in  the  lawsuit  through  which,  after  Colum 
bus's  death,  his  son  defended  his  titles  against  the 
Crown,  the  picturesque  story  of  the  convent  of  Rabid  a,  and  the 
appearance  at  its  gate  of  a  forlorn  traveler  accompanied  by  a 
little  boy,  and  the  supplication  for  bread  and  water  for  the 
child,  has  stood  in  the  lives  of  Columbus  as  the  opening  scene 
of  his  career  in  Spain. 

This  Franciscan  convent,  dedicated  to  Santa  Maria  de  Ra- 
bida,  stood  on  a  height  within  sight  of  the  sea,  very  near  the 


COLUMBUS   LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       155 

town  of  Palos,  and  after  having  fallen  into  a  ruin  it  was 
restored  by  the  Duke  of  Montpensier  in  1855.  A  recent  trav 
eler  has  found  this  restoration  "  modernized,  whitewashed,  and 
forlorn,"  while  the  refurnishing  of  the  interior  is  described  as 
"  paltry  and  vulgar,"  even  in  the  cell  of  its  friar,  where  the  vis 
itor  now  finds  a  portrait  of  Columbus  and  pictures  of  scenes 
in  his  career. 

This  friar,  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena,  was  at  the  time  of  the 
supposed  visit  of  Columbus  the  prior  of  the  convent,   Friar  Mar. 
and  being  casually  attracted  by  the  scene  at  the  gate,  chena> 
where  the  porter  was  refreshing  the  vagrant  travelers,  and  by 


PERE  JUAN  PEREZ  DE   MARCHENA. 

[As  given  by  Roselly  de  Lorgues.] 

the  foreign  accent  of  the  stranger,  he  entered  into  talk  with  the 
elder  of  them  and  learned  his  name.  Columbus  also  told  him 
that  he  was  bound  to  Huelva  to  find  the  home  of  one  Muliar, 
a  Spaniard  who  had  married  the  youngest  sister  of  his  wife. 
The  story  goes  further  that  the  friar  was  not  uninformed  in  the 
cosmographical  lore  of  the  time,  had  not  been  unobservant  of 
the  maritime  intelligence  which  had  naturally  been  rife  in  the 
neighboring  seaport  of  Palos,  and  had  kept  watch  of  the  recent 


156  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

progress  in  geographical  science.  He  was  accordingly  able  to 
appreciate  the  interest  which  Columbus  manifested  in  such 
subjects,  as  he  unfolded  his  own  notions  of  still  greater  discov 
eries  which  might  be  made  at  the  west.  Keeping  the  wanderer 
and  his  little  child  a  few  days,  Marchena  invited  to  the  convent, 
to  join  with  them  in  discussion,  the  most  learned  man  whom  the 
neighborhood  afforded,  the  physician  of  Palos,  —  the  very  one 
from  whose  testimony  our  information  comes.  Their  talks 
were  not  without  reinforcements  from  the  experiences  of  some  of 
the  mariners  of  that  seaport,  particularly  one  Pedro  de  Velasco, 
who  told  of  manifestation  of  land  which  he  had  himself  seen, 
without  absolute  contact,  thirty  years  before,  when  his  ship  had 
been  blown  a  long  distance  to  the  northwest  of  Ireland. 

The  friendship  formed  in  the  convent  kept  Columbus  there 
amid  congenial  sympathizers,  and  it  was  not  till  some  time  in  the 
winter  of  1485-86,  and  when  he  heard  that  the  Spanish  sover 
eigns  were  at  Cordoba,  gathering  a  force  to  attack  the  Moors  in 
Granada,  that,  leaving  behind  his  boy  to  be  instructed 
goes  to  cor-  in  the  convent,  Columbus  started  for  that  city.  He 

dobci* 

went  not  without  confidence  and  elation,  as  he  bore  a 
letter  of  credentials  which  the  friar  had  given  him  to  a  friend, 
Fernando  de  Talavera,  the  prior  of  the  monastery  of  Prado,  and 
confessor  of  Queen  Isabella. 

This  story  has  almost  always  been  placed  in  the  opening  of 
the  career  of  Columbus  in  Spain.  It  has  often  in  sympathizing 
hands  pointed  a  moral  in  contrasting  the  abject  condition  of 
those  days  with  the  proud  expectancy  under  which,  some  years 
later,  he  sailed  out  of  the  neighboring  harbor  of  Palos,  within 
eyeshot  of  the  monks  of  Kabida.  Irving,  however,  as  he  ana 
lyzed  the  reports  of  the  famous  trial  already  referred  to,  was 
Doubts  quite  sure  that  the  events  of  two  visits  to  Rabida  had 
viStsto6  been  unwittingly,  run  into  one  in  testimony  given 
after  so  long  an  interval  of  years.  It  does  indeed 
seem  that  we  must  either  apply  this  evidence  of  1513  and  1515 
to  a  later  visit,  or  else  we  must  determine  that  there  was  great 
similarity  in  some  of  the  incidents  of  the  two  visits. 

The  date  of  1491,  to  which  Harrisse  pushes  the  incidents  for 
ward,  depends  in  part  on  the  evidence  of  one  Rodriguez  Cobe- 
zudo  that  in  1513  it  was  about  twenty-two  years  since  he  had 
lent  a  mule  to  Juan  Perez  de  Marchena,  when  he  went  to  Santa 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN,       157 

Fe  from  Rabida  to  interpose  for  Columbus.  The  testimony  of 
Garcia  Fernandez  is  that  this  visit  of  Marchena  took  place 
after  Columbus  had  once  been  rebuffed  at  court,  and  the  words 
of  the  witness  indicate  that  it  was  on  that  visit  when  Juan 
Perez  asked  Columbus  who  he  was  and  whence  he  came ;  show 
ing,  perhaps,  that  it  was  the  first  time  Perez  had  seen  Colum 
bus.  Accordingly  this,  as  well  as  the  mule  story,  points  to 
1491.  But  that  fche  circumstances  of  the  visit  which  Garcia  Fer 
nandez  recounts  may  have  belonged  to  an  earlier  visit,  in  part 
confounded  after  fifteen  years  with  a  later  one,  may  yet  be  not 
beyond"  a  possibility.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  Histo- 
rie  speaks  of  two  visits,  one  later  than  that  of  1484.  It  is  not 
easy  to  see  that  all  the  testimony  which  Harrisse  introduced  to 
make  the  visit  of  1491  'the  first  and  only  visit  of  Columbus 
to  the  convent  is  sufficient  to  do  more  than  render  the  case  prob 
able. 

We  determine  the  exact  date  of  the  entering  of  Columbus 
into  the  service  of  Spain  to  be  January  20,  1486,  from   14S6    En_ 
a  record  of   his   in  his   journal  on  shipboard    under  serviced 
January  14,  1493,  where  he  says  that  on  the  20th  of  Spain- 
the  same  month  he  would  have  been  in  their  Highnesses'  service 
just  seven  years.     We  find  almost  as  a  matter  of  course  other 
statements  of  his  which  give  somewhat  different  dates  by  deduc 
tion.     Two  statements  of  Columbus  agreeing  would  be  a  little 
suspicious.     Certain  payments  on  the  part  of  the  Crowns  of 
Castile  and  Aragon  do  not  seem  to  have  begun,  however,  till 
the  next  year,  or  at  least  we  have  no  earlier  record  of  such  than 
one  on  May  5,  1487,  and  from  that  date  on  they  were  made  at 
not  great  intervals,  till  an  interruption  came,  as  will  be  later 
shown. 

In  Spain  the  Christof  oro  Colombo  of  Genoa  chose  to  call  him 
self  Cristoval  Colon,  and  the  Historie  tells  us  that  he 
sought   merely  to  make  his    descendants    distinct   of  name  to 
name  from  their  remote  kin.     He  argued  that  the  Ro 
man  name  was   Colonus,  which  readily  was  transformed  to  a 
Spanish  equivalent.     Inasmuch  as  the   Duke  of  Medina-Celi, 
who  kept  Columbus  in  his  house  for  two  years  during  the  early 
years  of  his  Spanish  residence,  calls  him  Colomo  in  1493,  and 
Oviedo  calls  him  Colom,  it  is  a  question  if  he  chose  the  form  of 
Colon  before  he  became  famous  by  his  voyage. 


158  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  Genoese  had  been  for  a  long  period  a  privileged  people 
The  Genoese  *n  Spain,  dating  such  acceptance  back  to  the  time  of 
in  Spain.  gti  Ferdinand.  Navarrete  has  instanced  numerous 
confirmations  of  these  early  favors  by  successive  monarchs  down 
to  the  time  of  Columbus.  But  neither  this  prestige  of  his  birth 
right  nor  the  letter  of  Friar  Perez  had  been  sufficient  to  secure 
in  the  busy  camp  at  Cordoba  any  recognition  of  this  otherwise 
unheralded  and  humble  suitor.  The  power  of  the  sovereigns 
was  overtaxed  already  in  the  engrossing  preparations  which  the 
Court  and  army  were  making  for  a  vigorous  campaign  against 
the  Moors.  The  exigencies  of  the  war  carried  the  sovereigns, 
sometimes  together  and  at  other  times  apart,  from  point  to  point. 
Siege  after  siege  was  conducted,  and  Talavera,  whose  devotion 
had  been  counted  upon  by  Columbus,  had  too  much  to  occupy 
his  attention,  to  give  ear  to  propositions  which  at  best  he  deemed 
chimerical. 

We  know  in  a  vague  way  that  while  the  Court  was  thus 
Columbus  withdrawn  from  Cordoba  the  disheartened  wanderer 
in  Cordoba.  remaine(l  jn  that  city,  supporting  himself,  accord 
ing  to  Bernaldez,  in  drafting  charts  and  in  selling  printed 
books,  which  Harrisse  suspects  may  have  been  publications, 
such  as  were  then  current,  containing  calendars  and  astronom 
ical  predictions,  like  the  Lunarios  of  Granollach  and  Andres 
deLi. 

It  was  probably  at  this  time,  too,  that  he  made  the  acquaint- 
Makes  ac-  ance  °^  Alonso  de  Quintanilla,  the  comptroller  of  the 
quaintances.  finances  of  Castile.  He  attained  some  terms  of  friend 
ship  with  Antonio  Geraldini,  the  papal  nuncio,  and  his  brother, 
Alexander  Geraldini,  the  tutor  of  the  royal  children.  It  is 
claimed  that  all  these  friends  became  interested  in  his  projects, 
and  were  advocates  of  them. 

We  are  told  by  Las  Casas  that  Columbus  at  one  time  gath- 
Writes  out  ere&  an(l  placed  in  order  all  the  varied  manifestations, 
of  adSm  as  ne  conceived  them,  of  some  such  transatlantic  region 
as  his  theory  demanded ;  and  it  seems  probable  that 
this  task  was  done  during  a  period  of  weary  waiting  in  Cor 
doba.  We  know  nothing,  however,  of  the  manuscript  except 
as  Las  Casas  and  the  Historie  have  used  its  material,  and 
through  them  some  of  the  details  have  been  gleaned  in  the  pre 
ceding  chapter. 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       159 

These  accessions  of  friends,  aided  doubtless  by  some  such  sys- 
temization  of  the  knowledge  to  be  brought  to  the  ques- 

,  i  •     i  •     ,    •         T  -1,1  Mendoza. 

tion  as  this  lost  manuscript  implies,  opened  the  way  to 
an  acquaintance  with  Pedro  Gonzales  de  Mendoza,  Archbishop 
of  Toledo  and  Grand  Cardinal  of  Spain.  This  prelate,  from 
the  confidence  which  the  sovereigns  placed  in  him,  was  known 
in  Martyr's  phrase  as  "  the  third  king  of  Spain,"  and  it  could 
but  be  seen  by  Columbus  that  his  sympathies  were  essential  to 
the  success  of  plans  so  far  reaching  as  his  own.  The  cardinal 
was  gracious  in  his  intercourse,  and  by  no  means  inaccessible  to 
such  a  suitor  as  Columbus  ;  but  he  was  educated  in  the  exclusive 
spirit  of  the  prevailing  theology,  and  he  had  a  keen  scent  for 
anything  that  might  be  supposed  heterodox.  It  proved  neces 
sary  for  the  thought  of  a  spherical  earth  to  rest  some  time  in 
his  mind,  till  his  ruminations  could  bring  him  to  a  perception  of 
the  truths  of  science. 

According  to  the  reports   which  Oviedo  gives  us,   the  seed 
which  Columbus  sowed,  in  his  various  talks  with  the  cardinal, 
in  due  time  germinated,  and  the  constant  mentor  of  Gets  the  ear 
the  sovereigns  was  at   last   brought   to   prepare   the  nLdTor 
way,  so  that  Columbus  could  have  a  royal  audience.   Columbus- 
Thus  it  was  that  Columbus  finally  got  the  ear  of  Ferdinand,  at 
Salamanca,  whither  the  monarchs  had  come  for  a  winter's  so 
journ  after  the  turmoils  of  a  summer's  campaign  against  the 
Moors. 

We  cannot  proceed  farther  in  this  narrative  without  under 
standing,  in  the  light  of  all  the  early  and  late  evidence  characters 
which  we  have,  what  kind  of  beings  these  sovereigns 
of  Aragon  and  Castile  were,  with  whom  Columbus  Spain- 
was  to  have  so  much  intercourse  in  the  years  to  come.  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella,  the  wearers  of  the  crowns  of  Aragon  and 
Castile,  were  linked  in  common  interests,  and  their  joint  reign 
had  augured  a  powerful,  because  united,  Spain.  The  student  of 
their  characters,  as  he  works  among  the  documents  of  the  time, 
cannot  avoid  the  recognition  of  qualities  little  calculated  to  sat 
isfy  demands  for  nobleness  and  devotion  which  the  world  has 
learned  to  associate  with  royal  obligations.  It  may  be  possibly 
too  much  to  say  that  habitually,  but  not  too  much  to  assert 
that  often,  these  Spanish  monarchs  were  more  ready  at  perfidy 
and  deceit  than  even  an  allowance  for  the  teachings  of  their 


160  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

time  would  permit.  Often  the  student  will  find  himself  forced 
to  grant  that  the  queen  was  more  culpable  in  these  respects 
than  the  king.  An  anxious  inquirer  into  the  queen's  ways  is 
not  quite  sure  that  she  was  able  to  distinguish  between  her  own 
interests  and  those  of  God.  The  documentary  researches  of 
Bergenroth  have  decidedly  lowered  her  in  the  judgments  of 
those  who  have  studied  that  investigator's  results.  We  need 
to  plead  the  times  for  her,  and  we  need  to  push  the  plea  very 
far. 

"  Perhaps,"  says  Helps,  speaking  of  Isabella,  "  there  is  hardly 

any  great  personage   whose  name  and  authority  are 

found  in  connection  with  so  much  that  is  strikingly 

evil,  all  of  it  done,  or  rather  assented  to,  upon  the  highest  and 

purest  motives."     To  palliate  on  such  grounds  is  to  believe  in 

the  irresponsibility  of  motives,  which  should  transcend  times 

and  occasions. 

She  is  not,  however,  without  loyal  adulators  of  her  own  time 
and  race. 

We  read  in  Oviedo  of  her  splendid  soul.  Peter  Martyr 
found  commendations  of  ordinary  humanity  not  enough  for  her. 
Those  nearest  her  person  spoke  as  admiringly.  It  is  the  for 
tune,  however,  of  a  historical  student,  who  lies  beyond  the  in 
fluence  of  personal  favor,  to  read  in  archives  her  most  secret 
professions,  and  to  gauge  the  innermost  wishes  of  a  soul  which 
was  carefully  posed  before  her  contemporaries.  It  is  mirrored 
to-day  in  a  thousand  revealing  lenses  that  were  not  to  be  seen 
by  her  contemporaries.  Irving  and  Prescott  simply  fall  into 
the  adulation  of  her  servitors,  and  make  her  confessors  responsi 
ble  for  her  acquiescence  in  the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  and  in 
the  horrors  of  the  Inquisition. 

The  king,  perhaps,  was  good  enough  for  a  king  as  such  per 
sonages  went  in  the  fifteenth  century :  but  his  smiles 

Ferdinand.  ,  &  ,  ,  , ,  .  ,  , 

and  remorseless  coldness  were  mixed  as  few  could  mix 
them,  even  in  those  days.  If  the  Pope  regarded  him  from 
Italy,  that  Holy  Father  called  him  pious.  The  modern  student 
finds  him  a  bigot.  His  subjects  thought  him  great  and  glori 
ous,  but  they  did  not  see  his  dispatches,  nor  know  his  sometimes 
baleful  domination  in  his  cabinet.  The  French  would  not  trust 
him.  The  English  watched  his  ambition.  The  Moors  knew 
him  as  their  conqueror^  The  Jews  fled  before  his  evil  eye. 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       161 

The  miserable  saw  him  iii  his  inquisitors.  All  this  pleased  the 
Pope,  and  the  papal  will  made  him  in  preferred  phrase  His 
Most  Catholic  Majesty,  —  a  phrase  that  rings  in  diplomatic 
formalities  to-day. 

Every  purpose  upon  which  he  had  set  his  heart  was  apt  to 
blind  him  to  aught  else,  and  at  times  very  conveniently  so.  We 
may  allow  that  it  is  precisely  this  single  mind  which  makes  a 
conspicuous  name  in  history  ;  but  conspicuousness  and  justness 
do  not  always  march  with  a  locked  step. 

He  had,  of  course,  virtues  that  shone  when  the  sun  shone. 
He  could  be  equable.  He  knew  how  to  work  steadily,  to  eat 
moderately,  and  to  dress  simply.  He  was  enterprising  in  his 
actions,  as  the  Moors  and  heretics  found  out.  He  did  not  ex 
tort  money ;  he  only  extorted  agonized  confessions.  He  heard 
masses,  and  prayed  equally  well  for  God's  benediction  on  evil 
as  on  good  things.  He  made  promises,  and  then  got  the  papal 
dispensation  to  break  them.  He  juggled  in  state  policy  as  his 
mind  changed,  and  he  worked  his  craft  very  readily.  Machia- 
velli  would  have  liked  this  in  him,  and  indeed  he  was  a  good 
scholar  of  an  existing  school,  which  counted  the  act  of  outwit 
ting  better  than  the  arts  of  honesty  ;  and  perhaps  the  world  is 
not  loftier  in  the  purposes  of  statecraft  to-day.  He  got  people 
to  admire  him,  but  few  to  love  him. 

The  result  of  an  audience  with  the  king  was  that  the  proj 
ects  of  Columbus  were  committed  to  Talavera,  to  be 

i    •  -i    i        i  •         i      /•  -,  i  i         Columbus'a 

laid  by  him  before  such  a  body  of  wise  men   as  the   views  con- 

,,  .  .-IT  i  sideredby 

prior  could  gather  in  council.     Las  Casas  says  that  Taiavera 

r,  •  i  •  i-      i  i  T  and  others. 

the  consideration  or  the  plans  was  entrusted  to  "  cer 
tain  persons  of  the  Court,"  and  he  enumerates  Cardinal  Men- 
doza,  Diego  de  Deza,  Alonso  de  Cardenas,  and  Juan  Cabrero, 
the  royal  chamberlain.     The  meeting  was  seemingly  held  in  the 
winter  of  1486-87.     The  Catholic  writers  accuse  Irving,  and  ap 
parently  with  right,  of  an  unwarranted  assumption  of  the  im 
portance  of  what  he  calls  the  Council  at  Salamanca,  and  they 
find  he  has  no  authority  for  it,  except  a  writer  one   At  Sala_ 
hundred  and  twenty  years  after  the  event,  who  men-  manca* 
tions  the  matter  but  incidentally.     This  source  was  Remesal's 
Historia  de  CJiyapa  (Madrid,  1619),  an  account  of  one  of  the 
Mexican  provinces.      There  seems  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
at  best  it  was  anything  more  than   some  informal  conference 


162 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


of  Talavera  with  a  few  councilors,  and  in  no  way  associated  with 
the  prestige  of  the  university  at  Salamanca.     The  registers  of 


UNIVERSITY  OF  SALAMANCA. 

\Espana,  p.  132.] 


the  university,  which  begin  back  of  the  assigned  date  for  such 
Council,  have  been  examined  in  vain  for  any  reference  to  it. 
The  "  Junta  of  Salamanca  "  has  passed  into  history  as  a  con- 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       163 

vocation  of  considerable  extent  and  importance,  and  a  repre 
sentation  of  it  is  made  to  adorn  one  of  the  bas-reliefs  of  the 
Admiral's  monument  at  Genoa.  We  have,  however,  absolutelv 


fRISTOFORO   COLOMBO 
LA  PAT &IA 


MONUMENT  TO  COLUMBUS   ERECTED   AT  GENOA,   18G2. 

no  documentary  records  of  it.  Of  whatever  moment  it  may 
have  been,  if  the  problem  as  Columbus  would  have  presented 
it  had  been  discussed,  the  reports,  if  preserved,  could  have 


164  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

thrown  much  light  upon  the  relations  which  the  cosmographieal 
views  of  its  principal  character  bore  to  the  opinions  then  pre 
vailing  in  learned  circles  of  Spain.  We  know  what  the  Ifis- 
torie,  Bernaldez,  and  Las  Casas  tell  us  of  Columbus's  advocacy, 
but  we  must  regret  the  loss  of  his  ow'n  language  and  his  own 
way  of  explaining  himself  to  these  learned  men.  Such  a  paper 
would  serve  a  purpose  of  showing  how,  in  this  period  of  coura 
geous  and  ardent  insistence  on  a  physical  truth,  he  stood  man 
fully  for  the  light  that  was  in  him ;  and  it  would  afford  a 
needed  foil  to  those  pitiful  aberrations  of  intellect  which,  in 
the  years  following,  took  possession  of  him,  and  which  were  so 
constantly  reiterated  with  painful  and  maundering  wailing. 

Discarding,  then,  the  array  of  argument  which  Irving  borrows 
from  Remesal,  and  barely  associating  a  little  conference,  in 
which  Columbus  is  a  central  figure,  with  that  St.  Stephen's 
convent  whose  wondrous  petrifactions  of  creamy  and  reticu 
lated  stone  still  hold  the  admiring  traveler,  we  must  accept 
nothing  more  about  its  meetings  than  the  scant  testimony 
which  has  come  down  to  us.  It  is  pleasant  to  think  how  it  was 
here  that  the  active  interest  which  Diego  de  Deza,  a  Dominican 
Find  favor  friar,  finally  took  in  the  cause  of  Columbus  may  have 
with  Deza.  na(j  jtg  keginning .  kut  the  extent  of  our  positive 
knowledge  regarding  the  meeting  is  the  deposition  of  Rodri 
guez  de  Maldonado,  who  simply  says  that  several  learned  men 
and  mariners,  hearing  the  arguments  of  Columbus,  decided 
they  could  not  be  true,  or  at  least  a  majority  so  decided,  and 
that  this  testimony  against  Columbus  had  no  effect  to  convince 
him  of  his  errors.  This  is  all  that  the  "  Junta  of  Salamanca  " 
meant.  A  minority  of  unknown  size  favored  the  advocate. 

When  the  spring  of  1487  came,  and  the  court  departed  to 
MS?  The  Cordoba,  and  began  to  make  preparations  for  the 
court  at  campaign  against  Malaga,  there  was  no  hope  that  the 

considerations  which  had  begun  in  the  learned  ses 
sions  at  Salamanca  would  be  followed  up.  Columbus  seems  to 
have  journeyed  after  the  Court  in  its  migrations :  sometimes 
Malaga  sur  ^ure(^  ^  pittances  doled  out  to  him  by  the  royal 
renders,  treasurer  ;  sometimes  getting  pecuniary  assistance  from 

his  new  friend,  Diego  de  Deza  ;  selling  now  and  then 
a  map  that  he  had  made,  it  may  be  ;  and  accepting  hospitality 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL  FOR   SPAIN.       165 

where  he  could  get  it,  from  such  as  Aionso  de  Quintanilla.  In 
these  wandering  days,  he  was  for  a  while,  at  least,  in  attendance 
on  the  Court,  then  surrounded  with  military  parade,  before  the 


SPAIN,   1482. 
[From  the  Ptolemy  of  1482.] 

Moorish  stronghold  at  Malaga.     The  town  surrendered  on  Au 
gust  18,  1487,  and  the  Court  then  returned  to  Cordoba. 


166  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1487,  at  Cordoba,  that  Columbus 

fell  into  such  an  intimacy  as  spousehood  only  can  sanc- 
of  Co-  tion  with  a  person  of  good  condition  as  to  birth,  but 
wl  a  poor  in  the  world's  goods.  Whether  this  relation  had 

the  sanction  of  the  Church  or  not  has  been  a  subject 
of  much  inquiry  and  opinion.  The  class  of  French  writers,  who 
are  aiming  to  secure  the  canonization  of  Columbus,  have  found 
it  essential  to  clear  the  moral  character  of  Columbus  from  every 
taint,  and  they  confidently  assert,  and  doubtless  think  they 
show,  that  nothing  but  conjugal  right  is  manifest  in  this  con 
nection,  —  a  question  which  the  Church  will  in  due  time  have  to 
decide,  if  it  ever  brings  itself  to  the  recognition  of  the  saintly 
character  of  the  great  discoverer.  Even  the  ardent  supporters 
of  the  cause  of  beatification  are  forced  to  admit  that  there  is  no 
record  of  such  a  marriage.  No  contemporary  recognition  of 
such  a  relation  is  evinced  by  any  family  ceremonies  of  baptism 
or  the  like,  and  there  is  no  mention  of  a  wife  in  all  the  transac 
tions  of  the  crowning  endeavors  of  his  life.  As  viceroy,  at  a 
later  day,  he  constantly  appears  with  no  attendant  vice-queen. 
She  is  absolutely  out  of  sight  until  Columbus  makes  a  signifi 
cant  reference  to  her  in  his  last  will,  when  he  recommends  this 
Beatrix  Enriquez  to  his  lawful  son  Diego ;  saying  that  she  is  a 
person  to  whom  the  testator  had  been  under  great  obligations, 
and  that  his  conscience  is  burdened  respecting  her,  for  a  rea 
son  which  he  does  not  then  think  fitting  to  explain.  This  testa 
mentary  behest  and  acknowledgment,  in  connection  with  other 
manifestations,  and  the  absence  of  proof  to  the  contrary,  has 
caused  the  belief  to 'be  general  among  his  biographers,  early 
and  late,  that  the  fruit  of  this  intimacy,  Ferdinand  Columbus, 

was  an  illegitimate  offspring.  He  was  born,  as  near 
Columbus  as  can  be  made  out,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1488. 

The  mother  very  likely  received  for  a  while  some  con 
solation  from  her  lover,  but  Columbus  did  not  apparently  carry 
her  to  Seville,  when  he  went  there  himself ;  and  the  support 
which  he  gave  her  was  not  altogether  regularly  afforded,  and 
was  never  of  the  quality  which  he  asked  Diego  to  grant  to  her 
when  he  died.  She  unquestionably  survived  the  making  of 
Diego's  will  in  1523,  and  then  she  fades  into  oblivion.  Her 
son,  Ferdinand,  if  he  is  the  author  of  the  Historic,  makes  no 
mention  of  a  marriage  to  his  mother,  though  he  is  careful  to 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       167 

record  the  one  which  was  indisputably  legal,  and  whose  fruit 
was  Diego,  the  Admiral's  successor.  The  lawful  son  was  di 
rected  by  Columbus,  when  starting  on  his  third  voyage,  to  pay 
to  Beatrix  ten  thousand  maravedis  a  year  ;  but  he  seems  to  have 
neglected  to  do  so  for  the  last  three  or  four  years  of  her  life. 
Diego  finally  ordered  these  arrears  to  be  paid  to  her  heirs.  Las 
Casas  distinctly  speaks  of  Ferdinand  as  a  natural  son,  and  Las 
Casas  had  the  best  of  opportunities  for  knowing  whereof  he 
wrote. 

While  all  this  suspense  and  amorous  intrigue  were  perplexing 
the  ardent  theorist,  he  is  supposed  to  have  dispatched  Coiumbus 
his  brother  Bartholomew  to   England  to  disclose  his  £othe?to 
projects  to   Henry  VII.     Hakluyt,  in  his    Western*  England> 
Planting,  tells  us  that  it  "  made  much  for  the  title  of  the  kings 
of  England  "  to  the  New  World  that  Henry  VII.  gave  a  ready 
acceptance  to  the  theory  of  Columbus  as  set  forth  somewhat 
tardily  by  his  brother  Bartholomew,  when  escaping  Reiationsof 
from  the  detention  of  the  pirates,  he  was  at  last  able,   Kewsof 
on  February  13,  1488,  to  offer  in  England  his  sea-  Columbus- 
card,  embodying  Christopher's  theories,  for  the  royal  considera 
tion. 

William  Castell,  in  his  Short  Discovery  of  America,  says 
that  Henry  VII.  "  unhappily  refused  to  be  at  any  charge  in 
the  discovery,  supposing  the  learned  Columbus  to  build  castles 
in  the  air."  It  is  a  common  story  that*  Henry  finally  brought 
himself  to  accede  to  the  importunities  of  Bartholomew,  but  only 
at  a  late  day,  and  after  Christopher  had  effected  his  conquest 
of  the  Spanish  Court.  Columbus  himself  is  credited  with  say 
ing  that  Henry  actually  wrote  him  a  letter  of  acceptance.  This 
epistle  was  very  likely  a  fruition  of  the  new  impulses  to  oceanic 
discovery  which  the  presence,  a  little  later,  of  the  Ve-  ^he  Cabots 
netian  Cabots,  was  making  current  among  the  Eng-  lnEnglan(L 
lish  sailors  ;  for  John  Cabot  and  his  sons,  one  of  whom,  Sebas 
tian,  being  at  that  time  a  youth  of  sixteen  or  seventeen,  had, 
according  to  the  best  testimony,  established  a  home  in  Bristol, 
not  far  from  1490. 

If  the  report  of  the  Spanish  envoy  in  England  to  his  sover 
eigns  is  correct  as  to  dates,  it  was  near  this  time  that  the  Bristol 
merchants  were  renewing  their  quests  oceanward  for  the  islands 


168  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

of  Brazil  and  the  Seven  Cities.  We  have  seen  that  these 
islands  with  others  had  for  some  time  appeared  on  the  conjec 
tural  charts  of  the  Atlantic,  and  very  likely  they  had  appeared 
on  the  sea-card  shown  by  Bartholomew  Columbus  to  Henry 
VII.  These  efforts  may  perhaps  have  been  in  a  measure 
instigated  by  that  fact.  At  all  events,  any  hazards  of  further 
western  exploration  could  be  met  with  greater  heart  if  such 
stations  of  progress  could  be  found  in  mid  ocean.  Of  the  re 
port  of  all  this  which  Bartholomew  may  have  made  to  his  brother 
we  know  absolutely  nothing,  and  he  seems  not  to  have  returned 
to  Spain  till  after  a  sojourn  in  France  which  ended  in  1494. 

It  was  believed  by  Irving  that  Columbus,  having  opened  a 
correspondence  with  the  Portuguese  king  respecting  a 
invited  back  return  to  the   service  of  that  country,  had  received 
|rom  that  monarch  an  epistle,  dated  March  20,  1488, 
in  which  he  was  permitted  to  come  back,  with  the  offer  of  pro 
tection  against  any  suit  of  civil  or  criminal  nature,  and  that  this 
had  been  declined.     We  are  left  to  conjecture  of  what  suits  of 
either  kind  he  could  have  been  apprehensive. 

Humboldt  commends  the  sagacity  of  Navarrete  in  discerning 
that  it  was  not  so  much  the  persuasion  of  Diego  de  Deza  which 
kept  Columbus  at  this  time  from  accepting  such  royal  offers,  as 
the  illicit  connection  which  he  had  formed  in  Cordoba  with 
Dona  Beatrix  Enriquez,  who  before  the  summer  was  over  had 
given  birth  to  a  son. 

On  the  other  hand,  that  the  permission  was  not  neglected 
seems  proved  by  a  memorandum  made  by  Columbus's  own 
hand  in  a  copy  of  Pierre  d'Ailly's  Imago  Mundi,  preserved  in 
the  Biblioteca  Colombina  at  Seville,  where,  under  date  of 
December,  1488,  "  at  Lisbon,"  he  speaks  of  the  return  of  Diaz 
from  his  voyage  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  This  proof  is 
indeed  subject  to  the  qualification  that  Las  Casas  has  con 
sidered  the  handwriting  of  the  note  to  be  that  of  Bartholomew 
Columbus,  but  Harrisse  has  no  question  of  its  identity  with  the 
chirography  of  Columbus.  This  last  critic  ventures  the  conjec 
ture  that  it  was  in  some  way  to  settle  the  estate  of  his  wife  that 
Columbus  at  this  time  visited  Portugal. 

Columbus  had  ceased  to  receive  the  Spanish  subsi- 

sKidies        dies  in  June,  1488,  or  at  least  we  know  no  record  of 

any  later  largess.     Ferdinand  was  born  to  him  in  Au- 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL  FOR  SPAIN.       169 

gust.  It  was  very  likely  subsequent  to  this  last  event  that  Co 
lumbus  crossed  the  Spanish  frontier  into  Portugal,  if  Harrisse's 
view  of  his  crossing  at  all  be  accepted.  His  stay  was  without 
doubt  a  short  one,  and  from  1489  to  1492  there  is  every  indica 
tion  that  he  never  left  the  Spanish  kingdom. 

We  know  on  the  testimony  of  a  letter  of  Luis  de  la  Cerda, 
the  Duke  of  Medina-Celi,  given  in  Navarrete,  that  for  Duke  of 
two  years  after  the  arrival  of  Columbus  from  Portu-  K^Celi 
gal  he  had  been  a  guest  under  the  duke's  roof  in  Co-  Columbufl- 
gulludo,  and  it  seems  to  Harrisse  probable  that  this  gracious 
help  on  the  part  of  the  duke  was  bestowed  after  the  return  to 
Spain.     All  that  we  know  with  certainty  of  its  date  is  that  it 
occurred  before  the  first  voyage,  the  duke  himself  mentioning 
it  in  a  letter  of  March  19,  1493. 

It  was  not  till  May,  1489,  when  the  court  was  again  at  Cor 
doba,  according  to  Diego  Ortiz  de  Zuniga,  in  his  work  1489    Co_ 
on  Seville,  that  the  sovereigns  were  gracious  enough  ^SSedto 
to  order  Columbus  to  appear  there,  when   they  fur-  Cordoba- 
nished  him  lodgings.     They  also,  perhaps,  at   the    same  time, 
issued  a  general  order,  dated  at  Cordoba  May  12,  in  which  all 
cities  and  towns  were  directed  to  furnish  suitable  accommoda 
tions   to   Columbus   and  his  attendants,  inasmuch  as  he  was 
journeying  in  the  royal  service. 

The  year  1489  was  a  hazardous  but  fruitful  one.  The  sover 
eigns  were  pushing  vigorously  their  conquest  of  the  Moor.  Isa 
bella  herself  attended  the  army,  and  may  have  appeared  in  the 
beleaguering  lines  about  Baza,  in  one  of  those  suits  of 

T  .  ?  .-,-,  -,  rr    ~.          Columbus  at 

armor   which    are  still    shown  to  travelers.      Zuniga  the  siege  of 
says  that  Columbus  arrayed  himself  among  the  com 
batants,  and  was  doubtless  acquainted  with  the  mission  of  two 
friars  who  had  been  guardians  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusa 
lem.     These  priests  arrived  during*  the  siege,  bringing; 

„  ,   «    ••  i  -    TI  •          T  •    f     Friars  from 

a  message  from  the  Grand  Soldan  of  Egypt,  in  which  the  Holy 
that  potentate  threatened   to    destroy   all    Christians 
within  his  grasp,  unless  the  war   against   Granada   should  be 
stopped.     The  point  of  driving  the  Moors  from  Spain  was  too 
nearly  reached  for  such  a  threat  to  be  effective,  and  Isabella 
decreed  the  annual  payment  of  a  thousand  ducats  to  support  the 
faithful  custodians  of  the  Sepulchre,  and  sent  a  veil  embroidered 
with  her   own  hand  to  decorate  the  shrine.     Irving  traces  to 


170  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

this  circumstance  the  impulse,  which  Columbus  frequently  in  later 
days  showed,  to  devote  the  anticipated  wealth  of  the  Indies  to  a 
crusade  in  Palestine,  to  recover  and  protect  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
The  campaign  closed  with  the  surrender  on  December  22  of 
the  fortress  of  Baza,  when  Spain  received  from  Muley 
Boabdil,  the  elder  of  the  rival  Moorish  kings,  all  the 
22, 1489.  territory  which  he  claimed  to  have  in  his  power.  In 
February,  1490,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  entered  Seville  in  tri 
umph,  and  a  season  of  hilarity  and  splendor  followed,  signal 
ized  in  the  spring  by  the  celebration  with  great  jubilation  of 
the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Isabella  with  Don  Alonzo,  the  heir 
to  the  crown  of  Portugal.  These  engrossing  scenes  were  little 
suited  to  give  Columbus  a  chance  to  press  his  projects  on  the 
Court.  He  soon  found  nothing  could  be  done  to  get  the  far 
ther  attention  of  the  monarchs  till  some  respites  occurred  in 
the  preparations  for  their  final  campaign  against  the  younger 
Moorish  king.  It  was  at  this  time,  as  Irving  and  others  have 
conjectured,  that  the  consideration  of  the  project  of  a 

Columbus's  J  .  11 

views  agam    western  passage,  which  had  been  dropped  wnen  events 

considered.  \-  \    '  f*t  m  01  •  i 

moved  the  Court  from  oalamanca,  was  again  taken  up 
by  such  investigators  as  Talavera  had  summoned,  and  again  the 
result  was  an  adverse  decision.  This  determination  was  com 
municated  by  Talavera  himself  to  the  sovereign,  and  it  was 
accompanied  by  the  opinion  that  it  did  not  become  great  princes 
to  engage  in  such  chimerical  undertakings. 

It  is  supposed,  however,  that  the  decision  was  not  reached 
Deza  im-  without  some  reservation  in  the*  minds  of  certain  of 
pressed.  faQ  reviewers,  and  that  especially  this  was  the  case 
with  Diego  de  Deza,  who  showed  that  the  stress  of  the  argu 
ments  advanced  by  Columbus  had  not  been  without  result. 
This  friar  was  tutor  to  Prince  Juan,  and  it  was  not  difficult  for 
him  to  modify  the  emphatic  denial  of  the  judges.  It  was  the 
pride  of  those  who  later  erected  the  tombstone  of  Deza,  in  the 
cathedral  at  Seville,  to  inscribe  upon  it  that  he  was  the  gen 
erous  and  faithful  patron  of  Columbus.  A  temporizing  policy 
was,  therefore,  adopted  by  the  monarchs,  and  Columbus  was 
informed  that  for  the  present  the  perils  and  expenses 
of  the  war  called  for  an  undivided  attention,  and 
that  further  consideration  of  his  project  must  be  deferred  till 
the  war  was  over.  It  was  at  Cordoba  that  this  decision  reached 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       171 

Columbus.    In  his  eagerness  of  hope  he  suspected  that  the  judg 
ment  had  received  some  adverse  color  in  passing  through  Tala- 


CATHEDRAL  OF  SEVILLE. 
[From  Parcerisa  and  Quadrado's  Esparto.] 


vera's  mind,  and  so  he  hastened  to  Seville,  but  only  to  Columbus 
meet  the   same  chilling  repulse  from  the   monarchs   peviiie ;  but 
themselves.    With  clashed  expectations  he  left  the  city,   lsrePelled- 


172 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


feeling  that  the  instrumentality  of  Talavera,  as  Peter  Martyr 
tells  us,  had  turned  the  sovereigns  against  him. 


CATHEDRAL  OF  CORDOBA. 
[From  Parcerisa  and  Quadratic's  Espana."] 


Seeks  the 

gram 

Spain. 


Columbus  now  sought  to  engage  the  attention  of 
some  of  the  powerful  grandees  of  Spain,  who,  though 
subjects,  were  almost  autocratic  in  their  own  regions, 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL  FOR   SPAIN.       173 

serving  the  Crown  not  so  much  as  vassals  as  sympathetic 
helpers  in  its  wars.  They  were  depended  upon  to  recruit  the 
armies  from  their  own  trains  and  dependents  ;  money  came 
from  their  chests,  provisions  from  their  estates,  and  ships  from 
their  own  marine  ;  their  landed  patrimonies,  indeed,  covered 
long  stretches  of  the  coast,  whose  harbors  sheltered  their  con 
siderable  navies.  Such  were  the  dukes  of  Medina-Sidonia  and 
Medina-Celi.  Columbus  found  in  them,  however,  the 

•  •  i  i         Medina-Si- 

same   wariness   which    he    had    experienced   at   the  doniaand 

Medina-Cell. 

greater  court.  There  was  a  willingness  to  listen  ;  they 
found  some  lures  in  the  great  hopes  of  Eastern  wealth  which 
animated  Columbus,  but  in  the  end  there  was  the  same  disap 
pointment.  One  of  them,  the  Duke  of  Medina-Celi,  at  last 
adroitly  parried  the  importunities  of  Columbus,  by  averring 
that  the  project  deserved  the  royal  patronage  rather  than  his 
meaner  aid.  He,  however,  told  the  suitor,  if  a  farther  applica 
tion  should  be  made  to  the  Crown  at  some  more  opportune  mo 
ment,  he  would  labor  with  the  queen  in  its  behalf.  The  duke 
kept  his  word,  and  we  get  much  of  what  we  know  of  his  interest 
in  Columbus  from  the  information  given  by  one  of  the  duke's 
household  to  Las  Casas.  This  differs  so  far  as  to  make  the 
duke,  perhaps  as  Harrisse  thinks  in  the  spring  of  1491,  actually 
fit  out  some  caravels  for  the  use  of  Columbus ;  but  when  seek 
ing  a  royal  license,  he  was  informed  that  the  queen  had  deter 
mined  to  embark  in  the  enterprise  herself.  Such  a  decision 
seems  to  carry  this  part  of  the  story,  at  least,  forward  to  a  time 
when  Columbus  was  summoned  from  Kabida. 

A  consultation  which  now  took  place  at  the  convent  of  Ra- 
bida  affords  particulars  which  the  historians  have  coiumbusat 
found  difficulty,  as  already  stated,  in  keeping  distinct  Rabida- 
from  those  of  an  earlier  visit,  if  there  was  such.  Columbus,  ac 
cording  to  the  usual  story,  visited  the  convent  apparently  in 
October  or  November,  1491,  with  the  purpose  of  reclaiming  his 
son  Diego,  and  taking  him  to  Cordoba,  where  he  might  be  left 
with  Ferdinand  in  the  charge  of  the  latter's  mother.  Colum 
bus  himself  intended  to  pass  to  France,  to  see  if  a  letter,  which 
had  been  received  from  the  king  of  France,  might  possibly  open 
the  way  to  the  fulfillment  of  his  great  hopes.  It  is  represented 
that  it  was  this  expressed  intention  of  abandoning  Spain  which 
aroused  the  patriotism  of  Marchena,  who  undertook  to  prevent 


174  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

the  sacrifice.     We  derive  what  we  know  of  his  method  of  pre 
vention  from  the  testimony  of  Garcia  Fernandez,  the 
encourages     physician  of  Palos,  who  has  been  cited  in  respect  to 
the  alleged  earlier  visit.   This  witness  says  that  he  was 
summoned  to  Rabida  to  confer  with  Columbus.    It  is  also  made 
a  part  of  the  story  that  the  head  of  a  family  of  famous  naviga 
tors  in  Palos,  Martin  Alonso  Pinzon,  was  likewise  drawn  into 
Talks  with     tne  little  company  assembled  by  the  friar  to  consider 
the  new  situation.     Pinzon  readily  gave  his  adherence 
to  the  views  of   Columbus.     It  is   claimed,  however,  that  the 
presence  of  Pinzon  is  disproved  by  documents  showing  him  to 
have  been  in  Rome  at  this  time. 

An  alleged  voyage  of  Jean  Cousin,  in  1488,  two  years  and 
more  before  this,  from  Dieppe  to  the  coast  of  Brazil, 

Cousin's  ...  1  t       •        t  •        TI  i  •  TIT^ 

alleged  voy-  is  here  brought  in  by  certain  r  rencn  writers,  like  Ji<s- 
tancelin  and  Gaffarel,  as  throwing  some  light  on  the 
intercourse  of  Columbus  and  Pinzon,  later  if  not  now.  It  must 
be  acknowledged  that  few  other  than  French  writers  have  cred 
ited  the  voyage  at  all.  Major,  who  gave  the  story  careful  ex 
amination,  utterly  discredits  it.  It  is  a  part  of  the  story  that 
one  Pinzon,  a  Castilian,  accompanied  Cousin  as  a  pilot,  and  this 
man  is  identified  by  these  French  writers  as  the  navigator  who 
is  now  represented  as  yielding  a  ready  credence  to  the  views  of 
Columbus,  and  for  the  reason  that  he  knew  more  than  he  openly 
professed.  They  find  in  the  later  intercourse  of  Columbus  and 
this  Pinzon  certain  evidence  of  the  estimation  in  which  Colum 
bus  seemed  to  hold  the  practiced  judgment,  if  not  the  know- 
and  Pinzon's  ledge,  of  Pinzon.  This  they  think  conspicuous  in  the 
Section  yielding  which  Columbus  made  to  Pinzon's  opinion 
wlthit  during -Columbus's  first  voyage,  in  changing  his  course 
to  the  southwest,  which  is  taken  to  have  been  due  to  a  know 
ledge  of  Pinzon's  former  experience  in  passing  those  seas  in 
1488.  They  trace  to  it  the  confidence  of  Pinzon  in  separating 
from  the  Admiral  on  the  coast  of  Cuba,  and  in  his  seeking  to 
anticipate  Columbus  by  an  earlier  arrival  at  Palos,  on  the  re 
turn,  as  the  reader  will  later  learn.  Thus  it  is  ingeniously 
claimed  that  the  pilot  of  Cousin  and  colleague  of  Columbus 
were  one  and  the  same  person.  It  has  hardly  convinced  other 
students  than  the  French.  When  the  Pinzon  of  the  "  Pinta  " 
at  a  later  day  was  striving  to  discredit  the  leadership  of  Co- 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL  FOR   SPAIN.       175 

lumbus,  in  the  famous  suit  of  the  Admiral's  heirs,  he  could 
hardly,  for  any  reason  which  the  French  writers  aver,  have 
neglected  so  important  a  piece  of  evidence  as  the  fact  of  the 
Cousin  voyage  and  his  connection  with  it,  if  there  had  been  any 
truth  in  it.     So  we  must   be  content,  it  is   pretty  clear,  in 
charging  Pinzon's  conversion  to  the  views  of  Columbus  at  Ra- 
bida  upon  the  efficacy  of  Columbus's  arguments.    This  Pinzon  aide 
success  of  Columbus  brought  some  substantial  fruit  Columbus» 
in  the  promise  which  Pinzon  now  made  to  bear  the  expenses 
of  a  renewed  suit  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

A  conclusion  to  the  deliberation  of  this  little  circle  in  the 
convent  was  soon  reached.     Columbus  threw  his  cause  into  the 
hands  of  his  friends,  and  agreed  to  rest  quietly  in  the  convent 
while  they  pressed  his  claims.     Perez  wrote  a  letter  of  supplica 
tion  to  the  Queen,  and  it  was  dispatched  by  a  respectable  navi 
gator  of  the  neighborhood,  Sebastian  Rodriguez.     He  aild  Rodri. 
found  the  Queen  in  the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  which  had 
grown  up  in  the  military  surroundings  before  the  city 
of  Granada,  whose  siege  the  Spanish  armies  were  then  queeu 
pressing.     The    epistle    was  opportune,    for    it  reenforced   one 
which  she  had  already  received  from  the  Duke  of  Medina-Celi, 
who  had  been  faithful  to  his  promise  to  Columbus,  and  who, 
judging  from  a  letter  which  he  wrote  at  a  later  day,  March  19, 
1493,  took  to  himself  not  a  little  credit  that  he  had  thus  been 
instrumental,  as   he   thought,  in   preventing  Columbus  throw 
ing  himself  into  the  service  of  France.     The  result  was  that 
the  pilot  took  back  to  Rabida  an  intimation  to  Marchena  that 
his  presence  would  be  welcome  at  Santa  Fe.     So  mounting  his 
mule,  after  midnight,  fourteen   days  after  Rodriguez  Marchena 
had  departed,   the  friar  followed  the  pilot's  tracks,  follows- 
which  took  him  through  some  of  the  regions  already  conquered 
from  the  Moors,  and,  reaching  the  Court,   presented  himself 
before  the  Queen.     Perez  is  said  to  have  found  a  seconder  in 
Luis  de  Santangel,  a  fiscal  officer  of  Aragon,  and  in  the  Mar 
chioness  of  Moya,  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  household.     The  friar 
is  thought  to  have  urged  his  petition  so  strongly  that  the  Queen, 
who  had  all  along  been  more  open  to  the  representa-  The  queen 
tions  of  Columbus  than  Ferdinand  had  been,  finally  "umSs^nce 
determined  to  listen  once  more  to  the  Genoese's  ap-  more- 
peals.     Learning  of  the  poor  plight  of  Columbus,  she  ordered 


176  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

a  gratuity  to  be  sent  to  him,  to  restore  his  wardrobe  and  to 
furnish  himself  with  the  conveniences  of  the  journey.    Perez, 
having   borne   back   the  happy  news,  again  returned   to   the 
Court,  with  Columbus  under  his  protection.     Thus  once  more 
buoyed  in  hope,  and  suitably  arrayed  for  appearing  at  Court, 
Columbus,  on   his   mule,  early  in    December,  1491, 
rode  into  the  camp  at  Santa  Fe,  where  he  was  re- 
Dec ember,     ceived  and  provided  with  lodgings  by  the  accountant- 
general.     This  officer  was  one  whom  he  had  occasion 
happily  to  remember,  Alonso  de  Quintanilla,  through  whose 
offices  it  was,  in  the  end,  that  the  Grand  Cardinal  of 

Quintanilla  .  '  '      .  . 

and  Men-       bpam,  Mendoza,  was  at  this  time  brought  into  sym 
pathy  with  the  Genoese  aspirant. 

Military  events  were  still  too  imposing,  however,  for  any  im 
mediate  attention  to  his  projects,  and  he  looked  on  with  ad 
miration  and  a  reserved  expectancy,  while  the  grand  parade 
of  the  final  submission  of  Boabdil  the  younger,  the 
younger  last  of  the  Moorish  kings,  took  place,  and  a  long  pro 
cession  of  the  magnificence  of  Spain  moved  forward 
from  the  beleaguering  camp  to  receive  the  keys  of  the  Alham- 
bra.  Wars  succeeding  wars  for  nearly  eight  centuries  had  now 
come  to  an  end.  The  Christian  banner  of  Spain  floated  over 
The  Moorish  *^e  Moorish  palace.  The  kingdom  was  alive  in  all 
wars  end.  '^g  provjnces.  Congratulation  and  jubilation,  with 
glitter  and  vauntings,  pervaded  the  air. 

Few  observed  the  humble   Genoese  who  stood  waiting  the 

sovereigns'  pleasure  during  all  this  tumult  of  joy ;  but  he  was 

not  forgotten.     They  remembered,  as  he  did,  the  promise  given 

him  at  Seville.     The  war  was  over,  and  the  time  was  come. 

Talavera  had  by  this  time  gone  so  far  towards  an  ap- 

Talavera  J  * 

andcoium-  preciation  of  Columbus's  views  that  Peter  Martyr 
tells  him,  at  a  later  day,  that  the  project  would  not 
have  succeeded  without  him.  He  was  directed  to  confer  with 
the  expectant  dreamer,  and  Cardinal  Mendoza  became  promi 
nent  in  the  negotiations. 

Columbus's  position  was  thus  changed.  He  had  been  a 
suitor.  He  was  now  sought.  He  had  been  persuaded  from 
his  purposed  visit  to  France,  in  order  that  he  might  by  his 
plans  rehabilitate  Spain  with  a  new  glory,  complemental  to  her 
martial  pride.  This  view  as  presented  by  Perez  to  Isabella  had 


COLUMBUS  LEAVES  PORTUGAL   FOR   SPAIN.       177 

been  accepted,  and  Columbus   was  summoned  to  present  his 
case. 

Here,  when  he  seemed  at  last  to  be  on  the  verge  of  success, 
the  poor  man,  unused  to  good  fortune,  and  mistaking 

.     ,    . ,  .    ,    ,  ,  .    ,  ,     ,    .  ,  .  °     The  mistake 

its  token,  repeated  the  mistake  which  had  driven  him  of  coium- 
an  outcast  from  Portugal.    His  arrogant  spirit  led  him 
to  magnify  his  importance  before  he  had  proved  it ;  and  he 
failed  in  the  modesty  which  marks  a  conquering  spirit. 

True  science  places  no  gratulations  higher  than  those  of  its 
own  conscience.  Copernicus  was  at  this  moment  delving  into 
the  secrets  of  nature  like  a  nobleman  of  the  universe.  So  he 
stands  for  all  time  in  lofty  contrast  to  the  plebeian  nature  and 
sordid  cravings  of  his  contemporary. 

When,  at  the  very  outset  of  the  negotiations,  Talavera  found 
this  uplifted  suitor  making  demands  that  belonged  rather  to 
proved  success  than  to  a  contingent  one,  there  was  little  pros 
pect  of  accommodation,  unless  one  side  or  the  other  should  aban 
don  its  position.  If  Columbus's  own  words  count  for  anything, 
he  was  conscious  of  being  a  laughing-stock,  while  he  His 
was  making  claims  for  office  and  emoluments  that  would 
mortgage  the  power  of  a  kingdom.  A  dramatic  instinct  has  in 
many  minds  saved  Columbus  from  the  critical  estimate  of  such 
presumption.  Irving  and  the  French  canonizers  dwell  on  what 
strikes  them  as  constancy  of  purpose  and  loftiness  of  spirit. 
They  marvel  that  poverty,  neglect,  ridicule,  contumely,  and  dis 
appointment  had  not  dwarfed  his  spirit.  Columbus  was  to 
succeed ;  but  his  success  was  an  error  in  geography,  and  a  fail 
ure  in  policy  and  in  morals.  The  Crown  was  yet  to  succumb ; 
but  its  submission  was  to  entail  miseries  upon  Columbus  and 
his  line,  and  a  reproach  upon  Spain.  The  outcome  to  Columbus 
and  to  Spain  is  the  direst  comment  of  all. 

Columbus  would  not  abate  one  jot  of  his  pretensions,  and  an 
end  was  put  to  the  negotiations.  Making  up  his  mind  to  carry 
his  suit  to  France,  he  left  Cordoba  on  his  mule,  in  the  begin 
ning  of  February,  1492. 


His  pre 
tensions. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   FINAL   AGREEMENT   AND    THE   FIRST   VOYAGE,    1492c 

COLUMBUS,  a  disheartened  wanderer,  with  his  back  turned  on 
the  Spanish  Court,  his  mule  plodding  the  road  to  Cor- 
leaves  the  doba,  offered  a  sad  picture  to  the  few  adherents  whom 
he  had  left  behind.  They  had  grown  to  have  his 
grasp  of  confidence,  but  lacked  his  spirit  to  clothe  an  experi 
mental  service  with  all  the  certainties  of  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  sight  of  the  departing  theorist  abandoning  the  country, 
and  going  to  seek  countenance  at  rival  courts,  stirred  the  Span 
ish  pride.  He  and  his  friends  had,  in  mutual  counsels,  pic 
tured  the  realms  of  the  Indies  made  tributary  to  the  Spanish 
fame.  It  was  this  conception  of  a  chance  so  near  fruition,  and 
now  vanishing,  that  moved  Luis  de  Santangel  and  Alonso  de 
Quintanilla  to  determine  on  one  last  effort.  They  immediately 
sought  the  Queen.  In  an  audience  the  two  advocates  presented 
the  case  anew,  appealing  to  the  royal  ambition,  to  the  oppor 
tunity  of  spreading  her  holy  religion,  to  the  occasions  of  replen 
ishing  her  treasure-chests,  emptied  by  the  war,  and  to  every 
other  impulse,  whether  of  pride  or  patriotism.  The  trivial  cost 
and  risk  were  contrasted  with  the  glowing  possibilities.  They 
repeated  the  offer  of  Columbus  to  share  an  eighth  of  the  ex 
pense.  They  pictured  her  caravels,  fitted  out  at  a  cost  of  not 
more  than  3,000,000  crowns,  bearing  the  banner  of  Spain  to 
these  regions  of  opulence.  The  vision,  once  fixed  in  the  royal 
The  Queen  eve>  spread  under  their  warmth  of  description,  into 
succeeding  glimpses  of  increasing  splendor.  Finally 
the  warmth  and  glory  of  an  almost  realized  expectancy  filled 
the  Queen's  cabinet. 

The  conquest  was  made.  The  royal  companion,  the  Mar 
chioness  of  Moya,  saw  and  encouraged  the  kindling  enthusiasm 
of  Isabella ;  but  a  shade  came  over  the  Queen's  face.  The 
others  knew  it  was  the  thought  of  Ferdinand's  aloofness.  The 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      179 

warrior  of  Aragon,  with  new  conquests  to  regulate,  with  a  treas 
ury  drained  almost  to  the  last  penny,  would  have  little  heart  for 
an  undertaking  in  which  his  enthusiasm,  if  existing  at  all,  had 
always  been  dull  as  compared  with  hers.  She  solved  the  diffi 
culty  in  a  flash.  The  voyage  shall  be  the  venture  of  Castile 
alone,  and  it  shall  be  undertaken. 

Orders  were  at  once  given  for  a  messenger  to  overtake  Co 
lumbus.     A  horseman  came  up  with  him  at  the  bridge 
of  Pinbs,  two  leagues  from  Granada.     There  was  a  brought 
moment's  hesitancy,  as  thoughts  of  cruelly  protracted 
and  suspended  feelings  in  the  past  came  over  him.     His  deci 
sion,  however,  was  not  stayed.     He  turned  his  mule,  and  jour 
neyed  back  to  the  city.     Columbus  was  sought  once  more,  and 
in  a  way  to  give  him  the  vantage  which  his  imperious  demands 
could  easily  use. 

The  interview  with  the  Queen  which  followed  removed  all 
doubt  of  his  complete  ascendency.  Ferdinand  in  turn  yielded 
to  the  persuasions  of  his  chamberlain,  Juan  Cabrero,  and  to  the 
supplications  of  Isabella ;  but  he  succumbed  without  faith,  if  the 
story  which  is  told  of  him  in  relation  to  the  demand  for  similar 
concessions  made  twenty  years  later  by  Ponce  de  Leon  is  to  be 
believed.  "  Ah,"  said  Ferdinand,  to  the  discoverer  of  Florida, 
t%  it  is  one  thing  to  give  a  stretch  of  power  when  no  one  antici 
pates  the  exercise  of  it ;  but  we  have  learned  something  since 
then ;  you  will  succeed,  and  it  is  another  thing  to  give  such 
power  to  you."  This  story  goes  a  great  way  to  explain  the 
later  efforts  of  the  Crown  to  counteract  the  power  which  was, 
in  the  flush  of  excitement,  unwittingly  given  to  the  new  Ad 
miral. 

The  ensuing  days  were  devoted  to  the  arrangement  of  details. 
The  usual  story,  derived  from  the  Historie,  is  that  the  The  Queen's 
Queen  offered  to  pawn  her  jewels,  as  her  treasury  of  jewels- 
Castile  could  hardly  furnish  the  small  sum  required  ;  but  Har- 
risse  is  led  to  believe  that  the  exigencies  of  the  war  had  already 
required  this  sacrifice  of  the  Queen,  though  the  documentary 
evidence  is  wanting.  Santangel,  however,  interposed.  As 
treasurer  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  in  Aragon,  he  was  able 
to  show  that  while  Isabella  was  foremost  in  promoting  the  en 
terprise,  Ferdinand  could  join  her  in  a  loan  from  these  coffers  ; 
and  so  it  was  that  the  necessary  funds  were,  in  reality,  paid  in 


180  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS.    ' 

the  end  from  the  revenues  of  Aragon.  This  is  the  common 
story,  enlarged  by  later  writers  upon  the  narrative  in  Las 
Casas ;  but  Harrisse  finds  no  warrant  for  it,  and  judges  the  ad 
vance  of  funds  to  have  been  by  Saritangel  from  his  private  rev 
enues,  and  in  the  interests  of  Castile  only.  And  this  seems  to 
be  proved  by  the  invariable  exclusion  of  Ferdinand's  subjects 
from  participating  in  the  advantages  of  trade  in  the  new  lands, 
unless  an  exception  was  made  for  some  signal  service.  This 
rule,  indeed,  prevailed,  even  after  Ferdinand  began  to  reign 
alone. 

There  is  something  quite  as  amusing  as  edifying  in  the  osten- 
Ahnsofthe  sible  purposes  of  all  this  endeavor.  To  tap  the  re- 
expedition.  SOUrces  of  the  luxuriant  East  might  be  gratifying,  but 
it  was  holy  to  conceive  that  the  energies  of  the  undertaking  were 
going  to  fill  the  treasury  out  of  which  a  new  crusade  for  the 
rescue  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  could  be  sustained.  The  pearls 
and  spices  of  the  Orient,  the  gold  and  precious  jewels  of  its 
mines,  might  conduce  to  the  gorgeous  and  luxurious  display  of 
the  throne,  but  there  was  a  noble  condescension  in  giving  Co 
lumbus  a  gracious  letter  to  the  Great  Khan,  and  in 

End  of  the        ,  ,.  ,   .  ,  £  ,.     . 

world  ap-  hoping  to  seduce  his  subjects  to  the  sway  of  a  religion 
that  allowed  to  the  heathen  no  rights  but  conversion. 
There  was  at  least  a  century  and  a  half  of  such  holy  endeavors 
left  for  the  ministrants  of  the  church,  as  was  believed,  since  the 
seven  thousand  years  of  the  earth's  duration  was  within  one 
hundred  and  fifty-five  years  of  its  close,  as  the  calculations  of 
King  Alonso  showed.  Columbus  had  been  further  drawn  to 
these  conclusions  from  his  study  of  that  conglomerating  cardi 
nal,  Pierre  d'Ailly,  whose  works,  in  a  full  edition,  had  been  at 
this  time  only  a  few  months  in  the  book  stalls.  Humboldt  has 
gone  into  an  examination  of  the  data  to  show  that  Columbus's 
calculation  was  singularly  inexact ;  but  the  labor  of  verification 
seems  hardly  necessary,  except  as  a  curious  study  of  absurdities. 
Columbus's  career  has  too  many  such  to  detain  us  on  any  one. 

On  April  17,  1492,  the  King  and  Queen  signed  at  Santa  Fe 
1492.  April  and  delivered  to  Columbus  a  passport  to  all  persons 
ment^ith"  *n  unknown  parts,  commending  the  Admiral  to  their 
Columbus,  friendship.  This  paper  is  preserved  in  Barcelona. 
On  the  same  day  the  moiiarchs  agreed  to  the  conditions  of  a 
document  which  was  drawn  by  the  royal  secretary,  Juan  de 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.       181 

Coloma,  and  is  preserved  among  the  papers  of  the  Duke  of  Ve- 
ragua.  It  was  printed  from  that  copy  by  Navarrete,  and  is 
again  printed  by  Bergenroth  as  found  at  Barcelona.  As  formu 
lated  in  English  by  Irving,  its  purport  is  as  follows :  — 

1.  That  Columbus  should  have  for  himself  during  his  life,  and  for 
his  heirs  and  successors  forever,  the  office  of  Admiral  in  all  the  lands 
and  continents  which  he  might  discover  or  acquire  in  the  ocean,  with 

.  similar  honors  and  prerogatives  to  those  enjoyed  by  the  high  admiral 
of  Castile  in  his  district. 

2.  That  he  should  be  viceroy  and  governor-general  over  all  the  said 
lands  and  continents,  with  the  privilege  of  nominating  three  candidates 
for  the  government  of  each  island  or  province,  one  of  whom  should  be 
selected  by  the  sovereigns. 

3.  That  he  should  be  entitled  to  reserve  for  himself  one  tenth  of  all 
pearls,  precious  stones,  gold,  silver,  spices,  and  all  other  articles  of 
merchandises,  in  whatever  manner  found,  bought,  bartered,  or  gained 
within  his  admiralty,  the  costs  being  first  deducted. 

4.  That  he  or  his  lieutenant  should  be  the  sole  judge  in  all  causes 
or  disputes  arising  out  of  traffic  between  those  countries  and  Spain, 
provided  the  high  admiral  of  Castile  had  similar  jurisdiction  in  his 
district. 

5.  That  he  might  then  and  at  all  after  times  contribute  an  eighth 
part  of  the  expense  in  fitting  out  vessels  to  sail  on  this  enterprise,  and 
receive  an  eighth  part  of  the  profits. 

These  capitulations  were  followed  011  the  30th  of  April  by  a 
commission  which  the  sovereigns  signed  at  Granada,  1492.  April 
in  which  it  was  further  granted  that  the  Admiral  and  allowed  to 

•  111  1  T^k  USe  *ke  Pre" 

his  heirs  should  use  the  prefix  Don.  fix  Don. 

It  is  supposed  he  now  gave  some  heed  to  his  domestic  con 
cerns.     We  know  nothing,  however,  of  any  provision  for  the 
lonely  Beatrix,  but  it  is  said  that  he  placed  his  boy  Ferdinand, 
then  but  four  years  of  age,  at  school  in  Cordoba  near 
his  mother.     He  left  his  lawful  son,  Diego,  well  pro-  domestic 

•  ^     i     f  i  i        ^  aif  airs. 

vided  for  through  an  appointment  by  the  Queen,  on 
May  8,  which  made  him  page  to  Prince  Juan,  the  heir  apparent. 
Columbus  himself  tells  us  that  he  then  left  Granada  on  the 
12th  of  May,  1492,  and  went  direct  to  Palos ;  stop 
ping,  however,  on  the  way  at  Rabida,  to  exchange  con-  Reaches 
gratulations  with  its  friar,  Juan  Perez,  if  indeed  he 
did  not  lodge  at  the  convent  during  his  stay  in  the  seaport. 


182  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Palos  to-day  consists  of  a  double  street  of  lowly,  whitened 
Paloa  houses,  in  a  depression  among  the  hills.  The  guides 

described.  pOint  out  the  ruins  of  a  larger  house,  which  was  the 
home  of  the  Pinzons.  The  Moorish  mosque,  converted  into  St. 
George's  church  in  Columbus's  day,  still  stands  on  the  hill,  just 
outside  the  village,  with  an  image  of  St.  George  and  the  dragon 
over  its  high  altar,  just  as  Columbus  saw  it,  while  above  the 
church  are  existing  ruins  of  an  old  Moorish  castle. 

The  story  which  Las  Casas  has  told  of  the  fitting  out  of  the 
ships  fitted  vessels  does  not  agree  in  some  leading  particulars  with 
out*  that  which  Navarrete  holds  to  be  more  safely  drawn 

from  the  documents  which  he  has  published.  The  fact  seems 
to  be  that  two  of  the  vessels  of  Columbus  were  not  constructed 
by  the  Duke  of  Medina-Sidonia,  and  later  bought  by  the  Queen, 
as  Las  Casas  says  ;  but,  it  happening  that  the  town  of  Palos,  in 
consequence  of  some  offense  to  the  royal  dignity,  had  been 
mulcted  in  the  service  of  two  armed  caravels  for  twelve  months, 
the  opportunity  was  now  taken  by  royal  order,  dated  April  30, 
1492,  of  assigning  this  service  of  crews  and  vessels  to  Colum 
bus's  fateful  expedition. 

The  royal  command  had  also  provided  that  Columbus  might 
The  Pinzons  a^d  a  third  vess'el,  which  he  did  with  the  aid,  it  is  sup 
posed,  of  the  Pinzons,  though  there  is  no  documentary 
proof  to  show  whence  he  acquired  the  necessary  means.  Las 
Casas  and  Herrera,  however,  favor  the  supposition,  and  it  is  of 
course  sustained  in  the  evidence  adduced  in  the  famous  trial 
which  was  intended  to  magnify  the  service  of  the  Pinzons.  It 
was  also  directed  that  the  seamen  of  the  little  fleet  should 
receive  the  usual  wages  of  those  serving  in  armed  vessels,  and 
be  paid  four  months  in  advance.  All  maritime  towns  were 
enjoined  to  furnish  supplies  at  a  reasonable  price.  All  criminal 
processes  against  anybody  engaged  for  the  voyage  were  to  be 
suspended,  and  this  suspension  was  to  last  for  two  months  after 
the  return. 

It  was  on  the  23d  of  May  that,  accompanied  by  Juan  Perez, 
i492-DMay  Columbus  met  the  people  of  Palos  assembled  in  the 
mands  two  church  of  St.  George,  while  a  notary  read  the  royal 
Paios.  commands  laid  upon  the  town.  It  took  a  little  time 

for  the  simple  people  to  divine  the  full  extent  of  such  an  order, 
—  its  consignment  of  fellow-creatures  to  the  dreaded  evils  of 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      183 

the  great  unknown  ocean.  The  reluctance  to  enter  upon  the 
undertaking  proved  so  great,  except  among  a  few  prisoners 
taken  from  the  jails,  that  it  became  necessary  to  report  the 
obstacle  to  the  Court,  when  a  new  peremptory  order  was  issued 
on  June  20  to  impress  the  vessels  and  crews.  Juan  1492i  June 
de  Penalosa,  an  officer  of  the  royal  household,  ap-  ^d<Jewsel8 
peared  in  Palos  to  enforce  this  demand.  Even  such  imPressed- 
imperative  measures  availed  little,  and  it  was  not  till  Martin 
Alonso  Pinzon  came  forward,  and  either  by  an  agreement  to 
divide  with  Columbus  the  profits,  or  through  some  other  under 
standing,  —  for  the  testimony  on  the  point  is  doubtful,  The  Pin. 
and  Las  Casas  disbelieves  any  such  division  of  profits,  zons> 

—  exerted  his  influence,  in  which  he  was  aided  by  his  brother, 
also  a  navigator,  Vicente  Yanez  Pinzon.    There  is  a  story  trace 
able  to  a  son  of  the  elder  Pinzon,  who  testified  in  the  Columbus 
lawsuit  that  Martin  Alouso  had  at  one  time  become  convinced 
of  the  existence   of  western  lands  from  some   documents  and 
charts  which  he  had  seen  at  Rome.     The  story,  like  that  of  his 
companionship  with  Cousin,  already  referred  to,  has  in  it,  how 
ever,  many  elements  of  suspicion. 

This  help  of  the  Pinzons  proved  opportune  and  did  much  to 
save  the  cause,  for  it  had  up  to  this  time  seemed  impossible  to 
get  vessels  or  crews.  The  standing  of  these  navigators  as  men 
and  their  promise  to  embark  personally  put  a  new  complexion 
on  the  undertaking,  and  within  a  month  the  armament  was 
made  up.  Harrisse  has  examined  the  evidence  in  the  matter  to 
see  if  there  is  any  proof  that  the  Pinzons  contributed  more  than 
their  personal  influence,  but  there  is  no  apparent  ground  for  be 
lieving  they  did,  unless  they  stood  behind  Columbus  in  his  share 
of  the  expenses,  which  are  computed  at  500,000  maravedis, 
while  those  of  the  Queen,  arranged  through  Santangel,  are  reck 
oned  at  1,140,000  of  that  money.  The  fleet  consisted,  as  Peter 
Martyr  tells  us,  of  two  open  caravels,  "  Nina  "  and  "  Pinta " 

—  the  latter,  with  its  crew,  being  pressed  into  the  service, — 
decked  only  at  the  extremities,  where  high  prows  and  poops 
gave  quarters  for  the  crews  and  their  officers.     A  large-decked 
vessel  of  the  register  known  as  a  carack,  and  renamed  by  Co 
lumbus  the  "  Santa  Maria,"  which  proved  "  a  dull  sailer  and 
unfit  for  discovery,"  was  taken   by  Columbus  as  his  flagship. 
There  is  some  confusion  in  the  testimony  relating  to  the  name 


184  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

of  this  ship.  The  Historic  alone  calls  her  by  this  name.  Las 
Casas  simply  styles  her  "The  Captain."  One  of  the  pilots 
speaks  of  her  as  the  "  Mari  Galante."  Her  owner  was  one 
Juan  de  la  Cosa,  presumed  to  be  the  same  person  as  the  naviga 
tor  and  cosmographer  later  to  be  met,  and  he  had  command  of 
her,  while  Pero  Alonso  Nino  and  Sancho  Ruis  served  as  pilots. 

Captain  G.  V.  Fox  has  made  an  estimate  of  her  dimensions 
character  of  f rom  ner  reputed  tonnage  by  the  scale  of  that  time, 
the  ships.  an(j  Chinks  sne  was  sixty-three  feet  over  all  in  length, 
fifty-one  feet  along  her  keel,  twenty  feet  beam,  and  ten  and  a 
half  in  depth. 

The  two  Pinzons  were  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  other 
caravels,  —  Martin  Alonso  to  the  "  Pinta,"  the  larger  of  the  two, 
with  a  third  brother  of  his  as  pilot,  and  Vicente  Yanez  to  the 
"  Nina."  Many  obstacles  and  the  natural  repugnances  of  sail 
ors  to  embark  in  so  hazardous  a  service  still  delayed  the  prepa 
rations,  but  by  the  beginning  of  August  the  arrangements  were 
complete,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty  persons,  as  Peter 

The  crews.       -»«•'  -i    /-\    •     i  n  i  i  i        -r-r 

Martyr  and  Oviedo  tell  us,  but  perhaps  the  Histone 
and  Las  Casas  are  more  correct  in  saying  ninety  in  all,  were 
ready  to  be  committed  to  what  many  of  them  felt  were  most  des 
perate  fortunes.  Duro  has  of  late  published  in  his  Ooldn  y  Pin- 
von  what  purports  to  be  a  list  of  their  names.  It  shows  in  Tal- 
lerte  de  Lajes  a  native  of  England  who  has  been  thought  to  be 
one  named  in  his  vernacular  Arthur  Lake  ;  and  Guillemio  Ires, 
called  of  Gal  way,  has  sometimes  been  fancied  to  have  borne 
in  his  own  land  the  name  perhaps  of  Rice,  Herries,  or  Harris. 
There  was  no  lack  of  the  formal  assignments  usual  in  such 
important  undertakings.  There  was  a  notary  to  record  the  pro 
ceedings  and  a  historian  to  array  the  story ;  an  interpreter  to 
be  prepared  with  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  Arabic,  Coptic,  and 
Armenian,  in  the  hopes  that  one  of  these  tongues  might  serve  in 
intercourse  with  the  great  Asiatic  potentates,  and  a  metallurgist 
to  pronounce  upon  precious  ores.  They  were  not  without  a 
physician  and  a  surgeon.  It  does  not  appear  if  their  hazards 
should  require  the  last  solemn  rites  that  there  was  any  priest  to 
shri  ye  them ;  but  Columbus  determined  to  start  with  all  the 
solemnity  that  a  confession  and  the  communion  could  impart, 
and  this  service  was  performed  by  Juan  Perez,  both  for  him 
and  for  his  entire  company. 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      185 

The  directions  of  the  Crown  also  provided  that  Columbus 
should  avoid  the  Guinea  coast  and  all  other  posses-  Sailing  di_ 
sions  of  the  Portuguese,  which  seems  to  be  little  more  £o£°S?e 
than  a  striking  manifestation  of  a  certain  kind  of  in-  Crown- 
credulity  respecting  what  Columbus,  after  all,  meant  by  sailing 
west.     Indeed,  there  was  necessarily  more  or  less  vagueness  in 
everybody's  mind  as  to  what  a  western  passage  would  reveal, 
or  how  far  a  westerly  course  might  of  necessity  be  swung  one 
way  or  the  other. 

The  Historie  tells  us  distinctly  that  Columbus  hoped  to  find 
some  intermediate  land  before  reaching  India,  to  be  isiand8flrst 
used,  as  the  modern  phrase  goes,  as  a  sort  of  base  of  tobesousht- 
operations.  This  hope  rested  on  the  belief,  then  common,  that 
there  was  more  land  than  sea  on  the  earth,  and  consequently 
that  no  wide  stretch  of  ocean  could  exist  without  interlying 
lands. 

There  was,  moreover,  no  confidence  that  such  things  as  float 
ing  islands  might  not  be  encountered.  Pliny  and  Seneca  had 
described  them,  and  Columbus  was  inclined  to  believe  that  St. 
Brandan  and  the  Seven  Cities,  and  such  isles  as  the  dwellers  at 
the  Azores  had  claimed  to  see  in  the  offing,  might  be  of  this 
character. 

There  seems,  in  fact,  to  be  ground  for  believing  that  Colum 
bus  thought  his  course  to  the  Asiatic  shores  could  hardly  fail  to 
bring  him  in  view  of  other  regions  or  islands  lying  in  the  west- 
tern  ocean.  Munoz  holds  that  "  the  glory  of  such  discoveries 
inflamed  him  still  more,  perhaps,  than  his  chief  design." 

That  a  vast  archipelago  would  be  the  first  land  encountered 
was  not  without  confident  believers.  The  Catalan  A8iatic 
map  of  1374  had  shown  such  islands  in  vast  numbers,  archlPelag°- 
amounting  to  7,548  in  all ;  Marco  Polo  had  made  them  12,700, 
or  was  thought  to  do  so ;  and  Behaim  was  yet  to  cite  the  latter 
on  his  globe. 

It  was,  indeed,  at  this  very  season  that  Behaim,  having  re 
turned  from  Lisbon  to  his  home  in  Nuremberg,  had  Behaim's 
imparted  to  the  burghers  of  that  inland  town  those  globe* 
great  cosmographical  conceptions,  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
hear  discussed  in  the  Atlantic  seaports.    Such  views  were  exem 
plified  in  a  large  globe  which  Behaim  had  spent  the  summer  in 
constructing  in  Nuremberg.     It  was  made  of  pasteboard  cov- 


186 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


!-....______ 


BEHAIM'S  GLOBE,  1492. 
The  curred  sides  of  these  cuts  divide  the  Globe  in  the  mid  Atlantic. 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST   VOYAGE.     187 


BEHAIM'S  GLOBE,   1492. 
[Taken  from  Ernest  Mayer's  Die  Hilfsmittel  der  Schiffdhrtskunde  (Wein,  1879). J 


188 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


njruttn.  unUr 
•fit  te3,cl*v  mo-jnn 
teularn  «rt 


JC.OJ&  cUs  Stnjrt. 
fan,  Uunirlon.  Aof  lU 


*wy£  anfarSy  vert  nn?Z  anil 

VA  jena.  atrtMAj-.  u&g! 


DOPPELMAYER'S  ENGRAVING  OF 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      189 


'2S*tie£X: 


land  retiai  'to!*  sJfclKX ft  hL     t/utrAtffit/urr.Ja  irajA/fyt* 


:  m 


JnfiU  >r*cA/m  Ju  ^^^m 
Ja/i-mJ.autA  o&rl 
/Xufaitn.  -  Smarsydoi  - 


BEHAIM'S  GLOBE,  MUCH  REDUCED. 


190 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


ered  with  parchment,  and  is  twenty-one  inches  in  diameter.  It 
shows  the  equator,  the  tropics,  the  polar  circle,  in  a  latitudi 
nal  way ;  but  the  first  meridian,  passing  through  Madeira,  is 
the  only  one  of  the  longitudinal  sectors  which  it  represents. 


HAJA 


THE  ACTUAL  AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  BEHAIM'S  GEOGRAPHY. 

Behaim  had  in  this  work  the  help  of  Holtzschner,  and  the 
globe  has  come  down  to  our  day,  preserved  in  the  Egydienplatz, 
Nuremberg,  one  of  the  sights  and  honors  of  that  city.  It  shares 
the  credit,  however,  with  another,  called  the  Laon 
globe,  as  the  only  well  -  authenticated  geographical 
spheres  which  date  back  of  the  discovery  of  America.  This 
Laon  globe  is  much  smaller,  being  only  six  inches  in  diameter ; 
and  though  it  is  dated  1493,  it  is  thought  to  have  been  made 
a  few  years  earlier,  —  as  D' Avezac  thinks,  in  1486. 


Laon  globe. 


THE  FINAL   AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      191 

Clements  R.  Markham,  in  a  recent  edition  of  Robert  Hues' 
Tractatus  de  Globis,  cites  Nordenskiold  as  considering  Behaim's 
globe,  without  comparison,  the  most  important  geographical 
document  since  the  atlas  of  Ptolemy,  in  A.  D.  150.  "  He  points 
out  that  it  is  the  first  which  unreservedly  adopts  the  existence  of 
antipodes ;  the  first  which  clearly  shows  that  there  is  a  passage 
from  Europe  to  India ;  the  first  which  attempts  to  deal  with  the 
discoveries  of  Marco  Polo.  It  is  an  exact  representation  of  geo 
graphical  knowledge  immediately  previous  to  the  first  voyage  of 
Columbus." 

The  Behaim  globe  has  become  familiar  by  many  published 
drawings. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  Columbus  probably  took  with  him, 
on  his  voyage,  the  map  which  he  had  received  from  Toscaneni'8 
Toscanelli,  with  its  delineation  of  the  interjacent  and  map- 
island-studded  ocean,  which  washed  alike  the  shores  of  Europe 
and  Asia,  and  that  it  was  the  subject  of  study  by  him  and  Pin- 
zon  at  a  time  when  Columbus  refers  in  his  journal  to  the  use 
they  made  of  a  chart. 

That  Toscanelli's  map  long  survived  the  voyage  is  known, 
and  Las  Casas  used  it.  Humboldt  has  not  the  same  confidence 
which  Sprengel  had,  that  at  this  time  it  crossed  the  sea  in  the 
"  Santa  Maria  ;  "  and  he  is  inclined  rather  to  suppose  that  the 
details  of  Toscanelli's  chart,  added  to  all  others  which  Columbus 
had  gathered  from  the  maps  of  Bianco  and  Benincasa  —  for  it 
is  not  possible  he  could  have  seen  the  work  of  Behaim,  unless 
indeed,  in  fragmentary  preconceptions  —  must  have  served  him 
better  as  laid  down  on  a  chart  of  his  own  drafting.  There  is 
good  reason  to  suppose  that,  more  than  once,  with  the  skill 
which  he  is  known  to  have  possessed,  he  must  have  made  such 
charts,  to  enforce  and  demonstrate  his  belief,  which,  though  in 
the  main  like  that  of  Toscanelli,  were  in  matters  of  distance 
quite  different. 

So,  everything  being  ready,  on  the  third  of  August,  1492,  a 
half  hour  before  sunrise,  he  unmoored  his  little  fleet  in 
the  stream  and,  spreading  his  sails,  the  vessels  passed  gust's,  co- 
out  of  the  little  river  roadstead  of  Palos,  gazed  after, 
perhaps,  in  the  increasing  light,  as  the  little  crafts  reached  the 
ocean,  by  the  friar  of  Rabida,  from  its  distant  promontory  of 
rock. 


192  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


The  day  was  Friday,  and  the  advocates  of  Columbus's  canon 
ization  have  not  failed  to  see  a  purpose  in  its  choice, 
as  the  day  of  our  Redemption,  and  as  that  of  the  de 
liverance  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  by  Geoffrey  de  Bouillon,  and 


SHIPS  OF  COLUMBUS'S  TIME. 
(From  Medina's  Arte  de  Navegar,  1545.) 


of  the  rendition  of  Granada,  with  the  fall  of  the  Moslem  power 
in  Spain.  We  must  resort  to  the  books  of  such  advocates,  if 
we  would  enliven  the  picture  with  a  multitude  of  rites  and 


THE  FINAL   AGREEMENT  AND   FIRST  VOYAGE.      193 

devotional  feelings  that  they  gather  in  the  meshes  of  the  story 
of  the  departure.  They  supply  to  the  embarkation  a  variety 
of  detail  that  their  holy  purposes  readily  imagine,  and  place 
Columbus  at  last  on  his  poop,  with  the  standard  of  the  Cross, 
the  image  of  the  Saviour  nailed  to  the  holy  wood,  waving  in  the 
early  breezes  that  heralded  the  day.  The  embellishments  may 
be  pleasing,  but  they  are  not  of  the  strictest  authenticity. 


SHIP,   I486. 


In  order  that  his  performance  of  an  embassy  to  the  princes  of 
the  East  might  be  duly  chronicled,  Columbus  deter-  Keep8a 
mined,  as  his  journal  says,  to  keep  an  account  of  the  J°urnal- 
voyage   by  the  west,  "  by   which  course,"  he  says,  "  unto  the 
present  time,  we  do  not  know,  for  certain,  that  any  one   has 
passed."     It  was  his  purpose  to  write  down,  as  he  proceeded, 
everything  he  saw  and  all  that  he  did,  and  to  make  a  chart  of 
his  discoveries,  and  to  show  the^directions  of  his  track. 

Nothing  occurred  during  those  early  August  days  to  mar  his 


194 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      195 

run  to  the  Canaries,  except   the   apprehension  which   he   felt 
that  an  accident,  happening;  to  the  rudder  of  the  "  Pin- 

.  ,.  .  .The  "Pin. 

ta,    —  a  steering  gear  now  for  some  time  in  use,  m  ta"  dis 
place  of  the  old  lateral  paddles,  —  was  a  trick  of  two 
men,  her  owners,  Gomez  Rascon  and  Christopher  Quintero,  to 
impede  a  voyage  in  which  they  had  110  heart.     The  Admiral 
knew  the  disposition  of  these  men  well  enough  not  to  be  sur 
prised  at  the  mishap,  but  he  tried  to  feel  secure  in  the  prompt 
energy  of  Pinzon,  who  commanded  the  "  Pinta." 

As  he  passed  (August  24-25,  1492)  the  peak  of  Teneriffe, 
it  was  the  time  of  an  eruption,  of  which  he  makes  bare  Reaches  the 
mention  in  his  journal.  It  is  to  the  corresponding  Cananes- 
passages  of  the  Historie,  that  we  owe  the  somewhat  sensational 
stories  of  the  terrors  of  the  sailors,  some  of  whom  certainly  must 
long  have  been  accustomed  to  like  displays  in  the  volcanoes  of 
the  Mediterranean. 

At  the  Gran  Canaria  the  "  Nina  "  was  left  to  have  her 
lateen  sails  changed  to  square  ones  ;  and  the  "  Pinta,"  it  being 
found  impossible  to  find  a  better  vessel  to  take  her  place,  was 
also  left  to  be  overhauled  for  her  leaks,  and  to  have  her  rud 
der  again  repaired,  while  Columbus  visited  Gomera,  another 
of  the  islands.  The  fleet  was  reunited  at  Gomera  on  Septem 
ber  2.  Here  he  fell  in  with  some  residents  of  Ferro,  the  wes 
ternmost  of  the  group,  who  repeated  the  old  stories  of  land 
occasionally  seen  from  its  heights,  lying  towards  the  setting 
sun.  Having  taken  on  board  wood,  water,  and  provisions, 
Columbus  finally  sailed  from  Gomera  on  the  morning  of  Thurs 
day,  September  6.  He  seems  to  have  soon  spoken  1492.  Sep_ 
a  vessel  from  Ferro,  and  from  this  he  learned  that 
three  Portuguese  caravels  were  lying  in  wait  for  him 
in  the  neighborhood  of  that  island,  with  a  purpose  as  he  thought 
of  visiting  in  some  way  upon  him,  for  having  gone  over  to  the 
interests  of  Spain,  the  indignation  of  the  Portuguese  king.  He 
escaped  encountering  them. 

Up  to  Sunday,  September  9,  they  had  experienced  so  much 
calm  weather,  that  their  progress  had  been  slow.    This 

,     T  .       ,  .      ,     Sunday,  Sep- 

tediousness  soon  raised  an  apprehension  in  the  mind  tember9, 
of  Columbus  that  the  voyage  might  prove  too  long 
for  the  constancy  of  his  men.     He  accordingly  determined  to 
falsify  his  reckoning.     This  deceit  was  a  large  con-  Falsifieshis 
fession  of  his  own  timidity  in  dealing  with  his  crew,  reckoning- 


mera< 


198  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

and  it  marked  the  beginning  of  a  long  struggle  with  deceived 
and  mutinous  subordinates,  which  forms  so  large  a  part  of  the 
record  of  his  subsequent  career. 

The  result  of  Monday's  sail,  which  he  knew  to  be  sixty 
leagues,  he  noted  as  forty-eight,  so  that  the  distance  from  home 
might  appear  less  than  it  was.  He  continued  to  practice  this 
deceit. 

The  distances  given  by  Columbus  are  those  of  dead  reckon- 
ms  dead  ing  beyond  any  question.  Lieutenant  Murdock,  of  the 
reckoning.  United  States  navy,  who  has  commented  on  this  voy 
age,  makes  his  league  the  equivalent  of  three  modern  nautical 
miles,  and  his  mile  about  three  quarters  of  our  present  estimate 
for  that  distance.  Navarrete  says  that  Columbus  reckoned  in 
Italian  miles,  which  are  a  quarter  less  than  a  Spanish  mile. 
The  Admiral  had  expected  to  make  land  after  sailing  about 
seven  hundred  leagues  from  Ferro  ;  and  in  ordering  his  vessels 
in  case  of  separation  to  proceed  westward,  he  warned  them 
when  they  sailed  that  distance  to  come  to  the  wind  at  night, 
and  only  to  proceed  by  day. 

The  log  as  at  present  understood  in  navigation  had  not  yet 
been  devised.  Columbus  depended  in  judging  of  his  speed  on 
the  eye  alone,  basing  his  calculations  on  the  passage  of  objects 
or  bubbles  past  the  ship,  while  the  running  out  of  his  hour 
glasses  afforded  the  multiple  for  long  distances. 

On  Thursday,  the  13th  of  September,  he  notes  that  the  ships 
1492.  sep-  were  encountering  adverse  currents.  He  was  now 
temberis.  three  degrees  west  of  Flores,  and  the  needle  of  the 
compass  pointed  as  it  had  never  been  observed  before,  directly 
Reaches  *°  tne  true  north.  His  observation  of  this  fact  marks 
?ai?ati?onnof  a  significant  point  in  the  history  of  navigation.  The 
the  needle.  pOJarity  of  the  magnet,  an  ancient  possession  of  the 
Chinese,  had  been  known  perhaps  for  three  hundred  years> 
when  this  new  spirit  of  discovery  awoke  in  the  fifteenth  cen 
tury.  The  Indian  Ocean  and  its  traditions  were  to  impart,  per 
haps  through  the  Arabs,  perhaps  through  the  returning  Cru 
saders,  a  knowledge  of  the  magnet  to  the  dwellers  on 
of  the  mag-  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  to  the  hardier 
mariners  who  pushed  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules, 
so  that  the  new  route  to  that  same  Indian  Ocean  was  made 
possible  in  the  fifteenth  century.  The  way  was  prepared  for  it 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.     199 

gradually.  The  Catalans  from  the  port  of  Barcelona  pushed 
out  into  the  great  Sea  of  Darkness  under  the  direction  of  their 
needles,  as  early  at  least  as  the  twelfth  century.  The  pilots  of 
Genoa  and  Venice,  the  hardy  Majorcans  and  the  adventurous 
Moors,  were  followers  of  almost  equal  temerity. 


A  knowledge  of  the  variation  of  the  needle  came  more  slowly 
to  be  known  to  the  mariners  of  the  Mediterranean,   variation  of 
It  had  been  observed  by  Peregrini  as  early  as  1269,  theneedle- 
but  that  knowledge  of  it  which  rendered  it  greatly  serviceable 


200 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


in  voyages  does  not  seem  to  be  plainly  indicated  in  any  of  the 
charts  of  these  transition  centuries,  till  we  find  it  laid  down  on 
the  maps  of  Andrea  Bianco  in  1436. 


[From  Birth's  Bilderbuch,  vol.  Hi.] 


It  was  no  new  thing  then  when  Columbus,  as  he  sailed  west 
ward,  marked  the  variation,  proceeding  from  the  northeast 
more  and  more  westerly ;  but  it  was  a  revelation  when  he  came 
to  a  position  where  the  magnetic  north  and  the  north  star  stood 
in  conjunction,  as  they  did  on  this  13th  of  September,  1492. 


THE  FINAL   AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.    201 

As  he  still  moved  westerly  the  magnetic  line  was  found  to 
move  farther  and  farther  away  from  the  pole  as  it  had  before 
the  13th  approached  it.  To  an  observer  of  Columbus's  quick 
perceptions,  there  was  a  ready  guess  to  possess  his 

m»  •      •     <•  i  i  •      T  P  •         Columbus's 

mind.     This  inference  was  that  this  line  or  no  vana-  misconcep- 

.  .       tion  of  the 

tion  was  a  meridian  line,  and  that  divergences  from  it  line  of  no 

?  .    ,  i-ii         variation. 

east  and  west  might  have  a  regularity  which  would  be 
found  to  furnish  a  method  of  ascertaining  longitude  far  easier 
and  surer  than  tables  or  water  clocks.      We  know  that  four 
years  later  he  tried  to  sail  his  ship  on  observations  of  this  kind. 
The  same  idea  seems  to  have  occurred  to  Sebastian  Sebastian 
Cabot,  when  a  little  afterwards  he  approached  and 
passed  in  a  higher  latitude,  what  he  supposed  to  be 
the  meridian  of  no  variation.     Humboldt  is  inclined  lon&ltude- 
to  believe  that  the  possibility  of  such  a  method  of  ascertaining 
longitude   was   that   uncommunicable  secret,   which   Sebastian 
Cabot  many  years  later  hinted  at  on  his  death-bed. 

The  claim  was  made  near  a  century  later  by  Livio  Sanuto  in 
his  Geographia,  published  at  Venice,  in  1588,  that  Sebastian 
Cabot  had  been  the  first  to  observe  this  variation,  and  had  ex 
plained  it  to  Edward  VI.,  and  that  he  had  on  a  chart  placed 
the  line  of  no  variation  at  a  point  one  hundred  and  ten  miles 
west  of  the  island  of  Flores  in  the  Azores. 

These  observations  of  Columbus  and  Cabot  were  not  wholly 
accepted  during  the  sixteenth  century.  Robert  Hues,  in  1592, 
a  hundred  years  later,  tells  us  that  Medina,  the  Span-  various 
ish  grand  pilot,  was  not  disinclined  to  believe  that  views* 
mariners  saw  more  in  it  than  really  existed  and  that  they  found 
it  a  convenient  way  to  excuse  their  own  blunders.  Nonius  was 
credited  with  saying  that  it  simply  meant  that  worn-out  mag 
nets  were  used,  which  had  lost  their  power  to  point  correctly  to 
the  pole.  Others  had  contended  that  it  was  through  insufficient 
application  of  the  loadstone  to  the  iron  that  it  was  so  devious 
in  its  work. 

What  was  thought  possible  by  the  early  navigators  possessed 
the  minds  of  all  seamen  in  varying  experiments  for  two  cen 
turies  and  a  half.  Though  not  reaching  such  satisfactory  re 
sults  as  were  hoped  for,  the  expectation  did  not  prove  so  chimer 
ical  as  was  sometimes  imagined  when  it  was  discovered  that  the 
lines  of  variation  were  neither  parallel,  nor  straight,  nor  con- 


202 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.    203 

stant.  The  line  of  no  variation  which  Columbus  found  near  the 
Azores  has  moved  westward  with  erratic  inclinations,  Better  un. 
until  to-day  it  is  not  far  from  a  straight  line  from  derstood- 
Carolina  to  Guiana.  Science,  beginning  with  its  crude  efforts 
at  the  hands  of  Alonzo  de  Santa  Cruz,  in  1530,  has  so  mapped 
the  surface  of  the  globe  with  observations  of  its  multifarious 
freaks  of  variation,  and  the  changes  are  so  slow,  that  a  magnetic 
chart  is  not  a  bad  guide  to-day  for  ascertaining  the  longitude 
in  any  latitude  for  a  few  years  neighboring  to  the  date  of  its 
records.  So  science  has  come  round  in  some  measure  to  the 
dreams  of  Columbus  and  Cabot. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  development  which  came  from  this 
ominous  day  in  the  mid  Atlantic  in  that  September 
of  1492.  The  fancy  of  Columbus  was  easily  excited, 
and  notions  of  a  change  of  climate,  and  even  aberra- 
tions  of  the  stars  were  easily  imagined  by  him  amid  tlonsofstars- 
the  strange  phenomena  of  that  untracked  waste. 

While  Columbus  was  suspecting  that  the  north  star  was  some 
what  willfully  shifting  from  the  magnetic  pole,  now  to  a  dis 
tance  of  5°  and  then  of  10°,  the  calculations  of  modern  astrono 
mers  have  gauged  the  polar  distance  existing  in  1492  at  3°  28',, 
as  against  the  1°  20'  of  to-day.  The  confusion  of  Columbus 
was  very  like  his  confounding  an  old  world  with  a  new,  inas 
much  as  he  supposed  it  was  the  pole  star  and  not  the  needle 
which  was  shifting. 

He  argued  from  what  he  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  that  the  line 
of  no  variation  marked  the  beginning  of  a  protuber-  I 
ance  of  the  earth,  up  which  he  ascended  as  he  sailed 
westerly,  and  that  this  was  the  reason  of  the  cooler  earth- 
weather  which  he  experienced.     He  never  got  over  some  no 
tions  of  this  kind,  and  believed  he  found  confirmation  of  them 
in  his  later  voyages. 

Even  as  early  as  the  reign  of  Edward  III.  of  England,  Nich 
olas  of  Lynn,  a  voyager  to  the  northern  seas,  is  thought  The  mag. 
to  have  definitely  fixed  the  magnetic  pole  in  the  Arctic  netlc  pole> 
regions,  transmitting  his  views  to  Cnoyen,  the  master  of  the 
later  Mercator,  in  respect  to  the  four  circumpolar  islands,  which 
in  the  sixteenth  century  made  so  constant  a  surrounding  of  the 
northern  pole. 


204  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  next  day  (September  14),  after  these  magnetic  observa- 
1492.  sep-  tions,  a  water  wagtail  was  seen  from  the  "  Nina,"  —  a 
temberw.  j^j^  whjcn  Columbus  thought  unaccustomed  to  fly 
over  twenty-five  leagues  from  land,  and  the  ships  were  now,  ac 
cording  to  their  reckoning,  not  far  from  two  hundred  leagues 
September  from  the  Canaries.  On  Saturday,  they  saw  a  distant 
bolt  of  fire  fall  into  the  sea.  On  Sunday,  they  had  a 
drizzling  rain,  followed  by  pleasant  weather,  which  reminded 
September  Columbus  of  the  nightingales,  gladdening  the  climate 
of  Andalusia  in  April.  They  found  around  the  ships 
much  green  floatage  of  weeds,  which  led  them  to  think  some 
islands  must  be  near.  Navarrete  thinks  there  was  some  truth 
in  this,  inasmuch  as  the  charts  of  the  early  part  of  this  century 
represent  breakers  as  having  been  seen  in  1802,  near  the  spot 
where  Columbus  can  be  computed  to  have  been  at  this  time. 
Columbus  was  in  fact  within  that  extensive  prairie  of  floating 
sargasso  seaweed  which  is  known  as  the  Sargasso  Sea,  whose 
principal  longitudinal  axis  »is  found  in  modern  times 
to  lie  along  the  parallel  of  41°  30',  and  the  best  calculations 
which  can  be  made  from  the  rather  uncertain  data  of  Colum- 
bus's  journal  seem  to  point  to  about  the  same  position. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  these  accounts,  as  we  have  them 
abridged  by  Las  Casas,  to  indicate  any  great  surprise,  and  cer 
tainly  nothing  of  the  overwhelming  fear  which,  the  Historic 
tells  us,  the  sailors  experienced  when  they  found  their  ships 
among  these  floating  masses  of  weeds,  raising  apprehension  of 
a  perpetual  entanglement  in  their  swashing  folds. 

The  next  day  (September  17)  the  currents  became  favor- 
1492.  Sep.  able,  and  the  weeds  still  floated  about  them.  The 
tember  17.  variation  of  the  needle  now  became  so  great  that  the 
seamen  were  dismayed,  as  the  journal  says,  and  the  observation 
being  repeated  Columbus  practiced  another  deceit  and  made  it 
appear  that  there  had  been  really  no  variation,  but  only  a  shift 
ing  of  the  polar  star  !  The  weeds  were  now  judged  to  be  river 
weeds,  and  a  live  crab  was  found  among  them,  —  a  sure  sign  of 
near  land,  as  Columbus  believed,  or  affected  to  believe.  They 
killed  a  tunny  and  saw  others.  They  again  observed  a  water 
wagtail,  "  which  does  not  sleep  at  sea."  Each  ship  pushed  on 
September  f°r  tne  advance,  for  it  was  thought  the  goal  was  near. 
The  next  day  the  "  Pinta "  shot  ahead  and  saw 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.     205 

great  flocks  of  birds  towards  the  west.  Columbus  conceived 
that  the  sea  was  growing  fresher.  Heavy  clouds  hung  on  the 
northern  horizon,  a  sure  sign  of  land,  it  was  supposed. 

On  the  next  day  two  pelicans  came  on  board,  and  Columbus 
records  that  these   birds   are  not  accustomed  to  go  1492>  Sep_ 
twenty  leagues  from  land.     So  he  sounded  with  a  line  tember  19- 
of  two  hundred  fathoms  to  be  sure  he  was  not  approaching 
land ;  but  no  bottom   was  found.     A  drizzling  rain  also  be 
tokened   land,  which  they  could    not  stop  to  find,  but  would 
search  for  on  their  return,  as  the  journal  says.     The  pilots  now 
compared   their  reckonings.      Columbus   said  they  were   400 
leagues,    while   the   "  Pinta's "   record    showed   420,   and   the 
"Nina's"  440. 

On  September  20,  other  pelicans  came  on  board ;  and  the 
ships  were  again  among  the  weeds.  Columbus  was  de-  1492  Sep_ 
termined  to  ascertain  if  these  indicated  shoal  water  and  tember20- 
sounded,  but  could  not  reach  bottom.  The  men  caught  a  bird 
with  feet  like  a  gull ;  but  they  were  convinced  it  was  a  river 
bird.  Then  singing  land-birds,  as  was  fancied,  hovered  about 
as  it  darkened,  but  they  disappeared  before  morning.  Then 
a  pelican  was  observed  flying  to  the  southwest,  and  as  "  these 
birds  sleep  on  shore,  and  go  to  sea  in  the  morning,"  the  men  en 
couraged  themselves  with  the  belief  that  they  could  not  be  far 
from  land.  The  next  day  a  whale  could  but  be  another  indica 
tion  of  land  ;  and  the  weeds  covered  the  sea  all  about.  On 
Saturday,  they  steered  west  by  northwest,  and  got 

.      ,         J       ,  mi  •  i.  September 

clear  ot  the  weeds.     JLhis  change  ot  course  so  tar  to  22.  changes 
the  north,  which  had  begun  on  the  previous  day,  was 
occasioned  by  a  head  wind,  and  Columbus  says  that  he  wel 
comed  it,  because  it  had  the  effect  of  convincing  the 

•1.1  t          .     -,  i  •  Headwind. 

sailors  that  westerly  winds  to  return  by  were  not  im 
possible.    On  Sunday  (September  23),  they  found  the  wind  still 
varying ;  but  they  made  more  westering  than   before,  —  weeds, 
crabs,  and  birds  still  about  them.     Now  there  was  smooth  wa 
ter,  which  again  depressed  the  seamen  ;  then  the  sea  September 
arose,  mysteriously,  for  there  was  no  wind  to  cause  25< 
it.     They  still  kept  their  course  westerly  and  continued  it  till 
the  night  of  September  25. 

Columbus  at  this  time  conferred  with  Pinzon,  as  to  a  chart 
which  they  carried,  which  showed  some  islands,  near  where  they 


206  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

now  supposed  the  ships  to  be.     That  they  had  not  seen    land, 
they  believed  was  either  due  to  currents  which  had  carried  them 
too  far  north,  or  else  their  reckoning  was  not  correct.     At  sun- 
Appearancea  se*  Pinzon  hailed  the   Admiral,  and  said  he  saw  land, 
of  land.         claiming  the  reward.     The  two  crews  were  confident 
that  such  was  the  case,  and  under  the  lead  of  their  commanders 
they  all  kneeled  and  repeated  the   Gloria  in  Excelsis.     The 
land  appeared  to  lie  southwest,  and  everybody  saw  the  appari- 
tion.    Columbus  changed  the  fleet's  course  to  reach  it ; 
changes  his    and  as  the  vessels  went  on,  in  the  smooth  sea,  the  men 
had  the  heart,  under  their  expectation,  to  bathe  in  its 
amber  glories.     On   Wednesday,  they   were   undeceived,  and 
September     found  that  the  clouds  had  played  them  a  trick.     On 
the  27th  their  course  lay  more  directly  west.     So  they 
went  on,  and  still  remarked  upon  all  the  birds  they  saw  and 
1492.  sep-     weed-drift   which  they  pierced.      Some    of   the  fowl 
tember  27.      ^nev  thought  to  be  such  as  were  common  at  the  Cape  de 
Verde  Islands,  and  were  not  supposed  to  go  far  to  sea.     On  the 
September     30th  September,  they  still  observed  the  needles  of 
their  compasses  to  vary,  but  the  journal  records  that 
it  was  the  pole  star  which  moved,  and  not  the  needle.     On 
October  1,  Columbus  says  they  were  707  leagues  from 
Ferro  ;  but  he  had  made  his  crew  believe  they  were 
only  584.     As  they  went  on,  little  new  for  the  next  few  days 
is  recorded  in   the  journal ;  but  on  October  3,  they 
thought  they  saw  among  the  weeds  something  like 
fruits.    By  the  6th,  Pinzon  began  to  urge  a  southwesterly  course, 
in  order  to  find  the  islands,  which  the  signs  seemed  to 
indicate  in  that  direction.     Still  the  Admiral  would 
not  swerve  from  his  purpose,  and  kept  his  course  westerly.     On 
Sunday,  the  "  Nina  "  fired  a  bombard  and  hoisted  a 
flag  as  a  signal  that  she  saw  land,  but  it  proved  a  de 
lusion.     Observing  towards  evening  a  flock  of  birds  flying  to 
shifts  his       *ne  southwest,  the  Admiral  yielded  to  Pinzon's  belief, 
foursome    an^  shifted  his  course  to  follow  the  birds.     He  re 
cords  as  a  further  reason  for  it  that  it  was  by  follow 
ing  the  flight  of  birds  that  the  Portuguese  had  been  so  success 
ful  in  discovering  islands  in  other  seas. 

Columbus  now  found  himself  two  hundred  miles  and  more 
farther  than  the  three  thousand  miles  west  of  Spain,  where  he 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.     207 

supposed  Cipango  to  lie,  and  he  was  25J°  north  of  the  equator, 
according  to  his  astrolabe.  The  true  distance  of  Ci 
pango  or  Japan  was  sixty-eight  hundred  miles  still 
farther,  or  beyond  both  North  America  and  the  Pacific.  How 
much  beyond  that  island,  in  its  supposed  geographical  position, 
Columbus  expected  to  find  the  Asiatic  main  we  can  only  con 
jecture  from  the  restorations  which  modern  scholars  have  made 
of  Toscanelli's  map,  which  makes  the  island  about  10°  east  of 
Asia,  and  from  Behaim's  globe,  which  makes  it  20°.  It  should 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  knowledge  of  its  position  came  from 
Marco  Polo,  and  he  does  not  distinctly  say  how  far  it  was  from 
the  Asiatic  coast.  In  a  general  way,  as  to  these  distances  from 
Spain  to  China,  Toscanelli  and  Behaim  agreed,  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe  that  the  views  of  Columbus  were  in  any  note 
worthy  degree  different. 

In  the  trial,  years  afterwards,  when  the  Fiscal  contested  the 
rights  of  Diego  Colon,  it    was   put   in    evidence    by  Relations  of 
one  Vallejo,   a  seaman,  that  Pinzon  was  induced  to  SeThange 
urge  the  direction  to  be  changed  to  the  southwest,  be-  of  course- 
cause  he  had  in  the  preceding  evening  observed  a  flight  of  par 
rots  in  that  direction,  which  could  have  only  been  seeking  land. 
It  was  the  main  purpose  of  the  evidence  in  this  part  of  the  trial 
to  show  that  Pinzon   had  all  along  forced  Columbus  forward 
against  his  will. 

How  pregnant  this  change  of  course  in  the  vessels  of  Colum 
bus  was  has  not  escaped  the  observation  of  Humboldt  and  many 
others.  A  day  or  two  further  on  his  westerly  way,  and  the  Gulf 
Stream  would,  perhaps,  insensibly  have  borne  the  little  fleet  up 
the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  future  United  States,  so  that  the  ban 
ner  of  Castile  might  have  been  planted  at  Carolina. 

On  the  7th  of  October,  Columbus  was  pretty  nearly  in  lati 
tude  25°  50', — that  of  one  of  the  Bahama  Islands. 
Just  where  he  was  by  longitude  there  is  much  more 
doubt,  probably  between  65°   and  66°.     On  the  next  day  the 
land  birds  flying  along  the  course  of  the  ships  seemed  October 
to  confirm  their  hopes.     On  the  10th  the  journal  re-  8"10> 
cords  that  the  men  began  to  lose  patience  ;  but  the  Admiral  re 
assured  them  by  reminding  them  of  the  profits  in  store  for  them, 
and  of  the  folly  of  seeking  to  return,  when  they  had  already 
gone  so  far. 


208  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

It  is  possible  that,  in  this  entry,  Columbus  conceals  the  story 
story  of  a  which  later  came  out  in  the  recital  of  Oviedo,  with 
mutiny.  more  detail  than  in  the  Historic  and  Las  Casas,  that 
the  rebellion  of  his  crew  was  threatening  enough  to  oblige  him 
to  promise  to  turn  back  if  land  was  not  discovered  in  three 
days.  Most  commentators,  however,  are  inclined  to  think  that 
this  story  of  a  mutinous  revolt  was  merely  engrafted  from  hear 
say  or  other  source  by  Oviedo  upon  the  more  genuine  recital, 
and  that  the  conspiracy  to  throw  the  Admiral  into  the  sea  has 
no  substantial  basis  in  contemporary  report.  Irving,  who  has 
a  dramatic  tendency  throughout  his  whole  account  of  the  voyage 
to  heighten  his  recital  with  touches  of  the  imagination,  neverthe 
less  allows  this,  and  thinks  that  Oviedo  was  misled  by  listening 
to  a  pilot,  who  was  a  personal  enemy  of  the  Admiral. 

The  elucidations  of  the  voyage  which  were  drawn  out  in  the 
famous  suit  of  Diego  with  the  Crown  in  1513  and  1515,  afford 
no  ground  for  any  belief  in  this  story  of  the  mutiny  and  the 
concession  of  Columbus  to  it. 

It  is  not,  however,  difficult  to  conceive  the  recurrent  fears  of 
his  men  and  the  incessant  anxiety  of  Columbus  to  quiet  them. 
From  what  Peter  Martyr  tells  us,  —  and  he  may  have  got  it 
directly  from  Columbus's  lips,  —  the  task  was  not  an  easy  one 
to  preserve  subordination  and  to  instill  confidence.  He  repre 
sents  that  Columbus  was  forced  to  resort  in  turn  to  argument, 
persuasion,  and  enticements,  and  to  picture  the  misfortunes  of 
the  royal  displeasure. 

The  next  day,  notwithstanding  a  heavier  sea  than  they  had 
1492.  before  encountered,  certain  signs  sufficed  to  lift  them 

October  ii.  ^  Q£  fl^p  despondency.  These  were  floating  logs, 
or  pieces  of  wood,  one  of  them  apparently  carved  by  hand,  bits 
of  cane,  a  green  rush,  a  stalk  of  rose  berries,  and  other  drifting 
tokens. 

Their  southwesterly  course  had  now  brought  them  down  to 

about  the  twenty-fourth  parallel,  when  after  sunset  on 

ber  ii.  steer  the  llth  they  shifted  their  course  to  due  west,  while 

the  crew  of  the  Admiral's  ship  united,  with  more  fervor 

than  usual,  in  the  Salve  Regina.    At  about  ten  o'clock  Columbus, 

Columbus      peering  into  the  night,  thought  he  saw  —  if  we  may 

sea  a  light,    believe -him  —  a  moving  light,  and  pointing  out  the 

direction  to  Pero  Gutierrez,  this  companion  saw  it  too ;  but  an- 


THE  FINAL   AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.     209 

other,  Rodrigo  Sanchez,  situated  apparently  on  another  part  of 
the  vessel,  was  not  able  to  see  it.  It  was  not  brought  to  the  at 
tention  of  any  others.  The  Admiral  says  that  the  light  seemed 
to  be  moving  up  and  down,  and  he  claimed  to  have  got  other 
glimpses  of  its  glimmer  at  a  later  moment.  He  ordered  the 
Salve  to  be  chanted,  and  directed  a  vigilant  watch  to  be  set  on 
the  forecastle.  To  sharpen  their  vision  he  promised  a  silken 
jacket,  beside  the  income  of  ten  thousand  maravedis  which  the 
King  and  Queen  had  offered  to  the  fortunate  man  who  should 
first  descry  the  coveted  land. 

This  light  has  been  the  occasion  of  much  comment,  and  noth 
ing  will  ever,  it  is  likely,  be  settled  about  it,  further  than  that 
the  Admiral,  with  an  inconsiderate  rivalry  of  a  common  sailor 
who  later  saw  the  actual  laud,  and  with  an  ungenerous  assurance 
ill-befitting  a  commander,  pocketed  a  reward  which  belonged  to 
another.  If  Oviedo,  with  his  prejudices,  is  to  be  believed,  Co 
lumbus  was  not  even  the  first  who  claimed  to  have  seen  this  du 
bious  light.  There  is  a  common  story  that  the  poor  sailor,  who 
was  defrauded,  later  turned  Mohammedan,  and  went  to  live 
among  that  juster  people.  There  is  a  sort  of  retributive  justice 
in  the  fact  that  the  pension  of  the  Crown  was  made  a  charge 
upon  the  shambles  of  Seville,  and  thence  Columbus  received  it 
till  he  died. 

Whether  the  light  is  to  be  considered  a  reality  or  a  fiction 
will  depend  much  on  the  theory  each  may  hold  regarding  the 
position  of  the  landfall.  When  Columbus  claimed  to  have  dis 
covered  it,  he  was  twelve  or  fourteen  leagues  away  from  the  isl 
and  where,  four  hours  later,  land  was  indubitably  found.  Was 
the  light  on  a  canoe  ?  Was  it  on  some  small,  outlying  island, 
as  has  been  suggested  ?  Was  it  a  torch  carried  from  hut  to 
hut,  as  Herrera  avers  ?  Was  it  on  either  of  the  other  vessels  ? 
Was  it  on  the  low  island  on  which,  the  next  morning,  he  landed  ? 
There  was  no  elevation  on  that  island  sufficient  to  show  even  a 
strong  light  at  a  distance  of  ten  leagues.  Was  it  a  fancy  or  a 
a  deceit  ?  No  one  can  say.  It  is  very  difficult  for  Navarrete, 
and  even  for  Irving,  to  rest  satisfied  with  what,  after  all,  may 
have  been  only  an  illusion  of  a  fevered  mind,  making  a  record 
of  the  incident  in  the  excitement  of  a  wonderful  hour,  when  his 
intelligence  was  not  as  circumspect  as  it  might  have  been. 

Four  hours  after  the  light  was  seen,  at  two  o'clock  in   the 


210 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


THE  FINAL   AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST   VOYAGE.      211 


morning,  when  the  moon,  near  its  third  quarter,  was  in  the  east, 
the  "  Pinta "  keeping  ahead,  one  of  her  sailors,  Rod- 
rigo  de  Triana,  descried  the  land,  two  leagues  away,   beri2, land 
and  a  gun   communicated  the  joyful  intelligence   to 
the  other  ships.     The  fleet  took  in  sail,  and  each  vessel,  under 
backed  canvas,  was  pointed  to  the  wind.      Thus  they  waited 
for  daybreak.     It  was  a  proud  moment  of  painful  suspense  for 
Columbus;    and    brimming 
hopes,  perhaps  fears  of  dis 
appointment,  must   have  ac 
companied  that  hour  of  wav 
ering  enchantment.     It  was 
Friday,  October  12,  of  the  old 
chronology,  and  the  little  fleet 
had  been  thirty-three  days  on 
its  way  from  the   Canaries, 
and  we   must  add  ten  days 
more,  to  complete  the  period 
since  they  left  Palos.     The 
land  before  them  was  seen, 
as  the  day  dawned,  to  be  a 
small  island,  "called  in  the 
Indian    tongue" 

~  0  Guanahani. 

(jruanahani.  feome 
naked  natives  were  descried. 
The  Admiral  and  the  com 
manders  of  the  other  vessels 
prepared  to  land.  Columbus 
took  the  royal  standard  and 
the  others  each  a  banner  of 
the  green  cross,  which  bore 
the  initials  of  the  sovereign 
with  a  cross  between,  a  crown  surmounting  every  letter.  Thus, 
with  the  emblems  of  their  power,  and  accompanied  by  Rodrigo 
de  Escoveda  and  Rodrigo  Sanchez  and  some  seamen,  the  boat 
rowed  to  the  shore.  They  immediately  took  formal  possession 
of  the  land,  and  the  notary  recorded  it. 

The  words  of  the  prayer  usually  given  as  uttered  by   Coiumbus 
Columbus  on  taking  possession  of  San  Salvador,  when 
he  named  the  island,  cannot  be  traced    farther  back 


COLUMBUS'S   ARMOR. 


212 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      213 


214  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

than  a  collection  of  Tobias  Chronologicas,  got  together  at  Va 
lencia  in  1689,  by  a  Jesuit  father,  Claudio  Clemente.  Harrisse 
finds  no  authority  for  the  statement  of  the  French  canonizers 
that  Columbus  established  a  form  of  prayer  which  was  long  in 
vogue,  for  such  occupations  of  new  lands. 

Las  Casas,  from  whom  we  have  the  best  account  of  the  cere 
monies  of  the  landing,  does  not  mention  it ;  but  we  find  pictured 
in  his  pages  the  grave  impressiveness  of  the  hour ;  the  form  of 
Columbus,  with  a  crimson  robe  over  his  armor,  central  and 
grand ;  and  the  humbleness  of  his  followers  in  their  contrition 
for  the  hours  of  their  faint-heartedness. 

Columbus  now  enters  in  his  journal  his  impressions  of  the 
island  and  its  inhabitants.  He  says  of  the  land  that  it  bore 
The  island  green  trees,  was  watered  by  many  streams,  and  pro- 
described,  duced  divers  fruits.  In  another  place  he  speaks  of 
the  island  as  flat,  without  lofty  eminence,  surrounded  by  reefs, 
with  a  lake  in  the  interior. 

The  courses  and  distances  of  his  sailing  both  before  and  on 
leaving  the  island,  as  well  as  this  description,  are  the  best  means 
we  have  of  identifying  the  spot  of  this  portentous  landfall.  The 
early  maps  may  help  in  a  subsidiary  way,  but  with  little  pre 
cision. 

There  is  just  enough  uncertainty  and  contradiction  respecting 
the  data  and  arguments  applied  in  the  solution  of  this 

Identifier  .  °,          .  r£    ,  ,         ,  .,, 

tionofthe  question,  to  render  it  probable  that  men  will  never 
quite  agree  which  of  the  Bahamas  it  was  upon  which 
these  startled  and  exultant  Europeans  first  stepped.  Though 
Las  Casas  reports  the  journal  of  Columbus  unabridged  for  a 
period  after  the  landfall,  he  unfortunately  condenses  it  for  some 
time  previous.  There  is  apparently  no  chance  of  finding  geo 
graphical  conditions  that  in  every  respect  will  agree  with  this 
record  of  Columbus,  and  we  must  content  ourselves  with  what 
offers  the  fewest  disagreements.  An  obvious  method,  if  we 
could  depend  on  Coluinbus's  dead  reckoning,  would  be  to  see 
for  what  island  the  actual  distance  from  the  Canaries  would  be 
nearest  to  his  computed  run ;  but  currents  and  errors  of  the  eye 
necessarily  throw  this  sort  of  computation  out  of  the  question, 
and  Capt.  G.  A.  Fox,  who  has  tried  it,  finds  that  Cat  Island  is 
three  hundred  and  seventeen,  the  Grand  Turk  six  hundred  and 
twenty- four  nautical  miles,  and  the  other  supposable  points  at 


THE  FINAL  AGREEMENT  AND  FIRST  VOYAGE.      215 

intermediate  distances  out  of  the  way  as  compared  with  his  com 
putation  of  the  distance  run  by  Columbus,  three  thousand  four 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  of  such  miles. 

The  reader  will  remember  the  Bahama  group  as  a  range  of 
islands,  islets,  and  rocks,  said  to  be  some  three  thou-  The 
sand  in  number,  running  southeast  from  a  point  part  Bahamas- 
way  up  the  Florida  coast,  and  approaching  at  the  other  end  the 
coast  of   Hispaniola.     In   the  latitude   of   the   lower 
point  of  Florida,  and  five  degrees  east  of  it,  is  the  isl-  do?,  oJ  cat 
and  of  San  Salvador  or  Cat  Island,  which  is  the  most 
northerly  of  those  claimed  to  have  been  the  landfall  of  Colum 
bus.     Proceeding  down  the  group,  we  encounter  Wat-  other 
ling's,  Samana,  Acklin  (with  the  Plana  Cays),  Mari-  islands- 
guana,  and  the   Grand  Turk,  —  all  of  which  have  their  advo 
cates.     The  three  methods  of  identification  which  have 
been  followed  are,  first,  by  plotting  the  outward  track  ;  identified 
second,  by  plotting  the  track  between  the  landfall  and 
Cuba,  both  forward  and  backward ;  third,  by  applying  the  de 
scriptions,  particularly  Columbus's,  of  the  island  first  seen.     In 
this  last  test,  Harrisse  prefers  to  apply  the  description  of  Las 
Casas,  which  is  borrowed  in  part  from  that  of  the  Historic,  and 
he  reconciles  Columbus's  apparent  discrepancy  when  he  says  in 
one  place  that  the  island  was  "  pretty  large,"  and  in  another 
46  small,"  by  supposing  that  he  may  have  applied  these  Acklin 
opposite  terms,  the  lesser  to  the  Plana  Cays,  as  first  Island- 
seen,  and  the  other  to  the  Crooked  Group,  or  Acklin  Island,  ly 
ing  just  westerly,  on  which  he  may  have  landed.     Harrisse  is 
the  only  one  who  makes  this  identification  ;   and  he  finds  some 
confirmation  in  later  maps,  which   show  thereabout  an  island, 
Triango  or  Triangulo,  a  name  said  by  Las  Casas  to  have  been 
applied  to  Guanahani  at  a  later  day.     There  is  no  known  map 
earlier  than  1540  bearing  this  alternative  name  of  Triango. 

San  Salvador  seems  to  have  been  the  island  selected  by  the 
earliest  of  modern  inquirers,  in  the  seventeenth  and   San 
eighteenth  centuries,  and  it  has  had  the  support  of  Ir-  Salvador- 
ving  and  Humboldt  in  later  times.     Captain  Alexander  Slidell 
Mackenzie  of  the  United  States  navy  worked  out  the  problem 
for  Irving.     It  is  much  larger  than  any  of  the  other  islands,  and 
could  hardly  have  been  called  by  Columbus  in  any  alternative 
way  a  "  small  "  island,  while  it  does  not  answer  Columbus's  de- 


216  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

scription  of  being  level,  having  on  it  an  eminence  of  four  hun 
dred  feet,  and  no  interior  lagoon,  as  his  Guanahani  demands. 
The  French  canonizers  stand  by  the  old  traditions,  and  find  it 
meet  to  say  that  "  the  English  Protestants  not  finding  the  name 
San  Salvador  fine  enough  have  substituted  for  it  that  of  Cat, 
and  in  their  hydrographical  atlases  the  .  Island  of  the  Holy  Sa 
viour  is  nobly  called  Cat  Island." 

The  weight  of  modern  testimony  seems  to  favor  "Watling's 
watiing's  island,  and  it  so  far  answers  to  Columbus's  description 
that  about  one  third  of  its  interior  is  water,  correspond 
ing  to  his  "  large  lagoon."  Munoz  first  suggested  it  in  1793  ; 
but  the  arguments  in  its  favor  were  first  spread  out  by  Captain 
Becher  of  the  royal  navy  in  1856,  and  he  seems  to  have  in 
duced  Oscar  Peschel  in  1858  to  adopt  the  same  views  in  his 
history  of  the  range  of  modern  discovery.  Major,  the  map  cus 
todian  of  the  British  Museum,  who  had  previously  followed 
Navarrete  in  favoring  the  Grand  Turk,  again  addressed  himself 
to  the  problem  in  1870,  and  fell  into  line  with  the  adherents  of 
Watling's.  No  other  considerable  advocacy  of  this  island,  if 
we  except  the  testimony  of  Gerard  Stein  in  1883,  in  a  book  on 
voyages  of  discovery,  appeared  till  Lieut.  J.  B.  Murdoch,  an 
officer  of  the  American  navy,  made  a  very  careful  examination 
of  the  subject  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Institute  in  1884,  which  is  accepted  by  Charles  A.  Schott  in 
the  Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey.  Murdoch 
was  the  first  to  plot  in  a  backward  way  the  track  between 
Guanahani  and  Cuba,  and  he  finds  more  points  of  resemblance 
in  Columbus's  description  with  Watling's  than  with  any  other. 
The  latest  adherent  is  the  eminent  geographer,  Clements  R. 
Markham,  in  the  bulletin  of  the  Italian  Geographical  Society  in 
1889.  Perhaps  no  cartographical  argument  has  been  so  effec 
tive  as  that  of  Major  in  comparing  modern  charts  with  the  map 
of  Herrera,  in  which  the  latter  lays  Guanahani  down. 

An  elaborate  attempt  to  identify  Samana  as  the  landfall  was 
made  by  the  late  Capt.  Gustavus  Vasa  Fox,  in  an  ap 
pendix   to  the  Report   of  the  United  States    Coast 
Survey  for  1880.     Varnhagen,  in  1864,   selected  Mariguana, 
and  defended  his  choice  in  a  paper.     This  island  fails  to  satisfy 
Grand  Turk    ^ne  physical  conditions  in  being  without  interior  water. 
Such    a  qualification,  however,  belongs  to  the  Grand 


THE   FINAL   AGREEMENT  AND   FIRST  VOYAGE.      217 

Turk  Island,  which  was  advocated  first  by  Navarre te  in  1826, 
whose  views  have  since  been  supported  by  George  Gibbs,  and 
for  a  while  by  Major. 

It  is  rather  curious  to  note  that  Caleb  Gushing,  who  under 
took  to  examine  this  question  in  the  North  American  Review. 
under  the  guidance  of  Navarrete's  theory,  tried  the  same  back 
ward  method  which  has  been  later  applied  to  the  problem,  but 
with  quite  different  results  from  those  reached  by  more  recent 
investigators.  He  says,  "  By  setting  out  from  Nipe  [which  is 
the  point  where  Columbus  struck  Cuba]  and  proceeding  in  a 
retrograde  direction  along  his  course,  we  may  surely  trace  his 
path,  and  shall  be  convinced  that  Guanahani  is  no  other  than 
Turk's  Island." 

Mr.  C.  R.  Markham  has  just  (September,  1892)  given  a  reasonable  inter 
pretation  of  the  name  "  Tallerte  de  Lajes  "  (ante,  p.  184)  in  saying  that 
Lajes  is  a  small  town  near  Coruna,  and  that,  leaving  off  the  T  and  final  e, 
both  natural  additions  for  a  Spaniard  to  make,  we  have  Allert  or  Allart,  a 
name  common  in  early  days  among  the  English  sailors  of  the  Cinque  Ports. 


CHAPTER  X. 

AMONG  THE   ISLANDS   AND   THE   RETURN   VOYAGE. 

WE  learn  that,  after  these  ceremonies  on  the  shore,  the  na 
tives  began  fearlessly  to  gather  about  the  strangers, 
of  Guan£es  Columbus,  by  causing  red  caps,  strings  of  beads,  and 
other  trinkets  to  be  distributed  among  them,  made  an 
easy  conquest  of  their  friendship.  Later  the  men  swam  out  to 
the  ship  to  exchange  their  balls  of  thread,  their  javelins,  and 
parrots  for  whatever  they  could  get  in  return. 

The  description  which  Columbus  gives  us  in  his  journal  of 
the  appearance  and  condition  of  these  new  people  is  the  ear 
liest,  of  course,  in  our  knowledge  of  them.  His  record  is  in 
teresting  for  the  effect  which  the  creatures  had  upon  him,  and 
for  the  statement  of  their  condition  before  the  Spaniards  had 
set  an  impress  upon  their  unfortunate  race. 

They  struck  Columbus  as,  on  the  whole,  a  very  poor  people, 
going  naked,  and,  judging  from  a  single  girl  whom  he  saw,  this 
nudity  was  the  practice  of  the  women.  They  all  seemed  young, 
not  over  thirty,  well  made,  with  fine  shapes  and  faces.  Their 
hair  was  coarse,  and  combed  short  over  the  forehead  ;  but  hung 
long  behind.  The  bodies  of  many  were  differently  colored  with 
pigments  of  many  hues,  though  of  some  only  the  face,  the  eyes, 
or  the  nose  were  painted.  Columbus  was  satisfied  that  they 
had  no  knowledge  of  edged  weapons,  because  they  grasped  his 
sword  by  the  blade  and  cut  themselves.  Their  javelins  were 
sticks  pointed  with  fishbones.  When  he  observed  scars  on 
their  bodies,  they  managed  to  explain  to  him  that  enemies, 
whom  the  Admiral  supposed  to  come  from  the  continent,  some 
times  invaded  their  island,  and  that  such  wounds  were  received 
in  defending  themselves.  They  appeared  to  him  to  have  no 
religion,  which  satisfied  him  that  the  task  of  converting  them 
to  Christianity  would  not  be  difficult.  They  learned  readily  to 
pronounce  such  words  as  were  repeated  to  them. 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN   VOYAGE.        219 

On  the  next  day  after  landing,  Saturday,  Columbus  describes 
again  the  throng  that  came  to  the  shore,  and  was  1492    Octc 
struck  with  their  broad  foreheads.     He  deemed  it  a  ber13' 
natural  coincidence,  being  in  the  latitude  of  the  Canaries,  that 
the  natives  had  the  complexion  prevalent  among  the  natives  of 
those  islands.     In  this  he  anticipated  the  conclusions  of  the 
anthropologists,  who    have  found  in  the  skulls  pre 
served  in  caves  both  in  the  Bahamas  and  in  the  Ca- 
naries,  such  striking  similarities  as  have  led  to  the  sup-  yan 
position  that  ocean    currents  may  have  borne  across  the  sea 
some  of  the  old  Guanche  stock  of  the  Canaries,  itself  very  likely 
the  remnant  of  the  people  of  the  European  river-drift. 

Professor  W.  K.  Brooks,  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University.; 
who  has  recently  published  in  the  Popular  Science  Monthly 
(November,  1889)  a  study  of  the  bones  of  the  Lucayans  as 
found  in  caves  in  the  Bahamas,  reports  that  these  relics  indi 
cate  a  muscular,  heavy  people,  about  the  size  of  the  average 
European,  with  protuberant  square  jaws,  sloping  eyes,  and 
very  round  skulls,  but  artificially  flattened  on  the  forehead,  — a 
result  singularly  confirming  Columbus' s  description  of  broader 
heads  than  he  had  ever  seen. 

"  The  Ceboynas,"  says  a  recent  writer  on  these  Indians,  "  gave 
us  the  hammock,  and  this  one  Lucayan  word  is  their 

_  99   /»  i       •          i  i  •    i     v  *         Hammocks. 

only  monument,    lor  a  population  larger  than  inhabits 

these  islands  to-day  were  in  twelve  years  swept  from  the  surface 

of  the  earth  by  a  system  devised  by  Columbus. 

The  Admiral  also  describes  their  canoes,  made  in  a  wonder 
ful  manner  of  a  single  tree-trunk,  and  large  enough  to 
hold  forty  or  forty-five  men,  though  some  were  so 
small  as  to  carry  a  single  person  only.     Their  oars  are  shaped 
like  the  wooden   shovels  with  which  bakers  slip  their  loaves 
into  ovens.     If  a  canoe  upsets,  it  is  righted  as  they  swim. 

Columbus  was  attracted  by  bits  of  gold  dangling  at  the  nose 
of  some  among  them.  By  signs  he  soon  learned  that  Gold  among 
a  greater  abundance  of  this  metal  could  be  found-  on  them- 
an  island  to  the  south ;  but  they  seemed  unable  to  direct  him 
with  any  precision  how  to  reach  that  island,  or  at  least  it  was 
not  easy  so  to  interpret  any  of  their  signs.  "  Poor  wretches  !  " 
exclaims  Helps,  "if  they  had  possessed  the  slightest  gift  of 
prophecy,  they  would  have  thrown  these  baubles  into  the  deep- 


220  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

est  sea."     They  pointed  in  all  directions,  but  towards  the  east 

as  the  way  to  other  lands  ;  and  implied  that  those  enemies  who 

came  from  the  northwest  often  passed  to  the  south  after  gold. 

He  found  that  broken  dishes  and  bits  of  glass  served 

traffics  with    as  well  f  or  traffic  with  them  as  more  valuable  articles, 

and  balls  of  threads  of  cotton,  grown  on  the  island, 

seemed  their  most  merchantable  commodity. 

With  this  rude  foretaste,  Columbus  determined  to  push  on 
1492.  octo-  f°r  *ne  richer  Cipango.  On  the  next  day  he  coasted 
along  the  island  in  his  boats,  discovering  two  or  three 
villages,  where  the  inhabitants  were  friendly.  They 
seemed  to  think  that  the  strangers  had  come  from  heaven,  —  at 
least  Columbus  so  interpreted  their  prostrations  and  uplifted 
hands.  Columbus,  fearful  of  the  reefs  parallel  to  the  shore, 
kept  outside  of  them,  and  as  he  moved  along,  saw  a  point  of 
land  which  a  ditch  might  convert  into  an  island.  He  thought 
this  would  afford  a  good  site  for  a  fort,  if  there  was  need  of  one. 
It  was  on  this  Sunday  that  Columbus,  in  what  he  thought 
1492  octo-  doubtless  the  spirit  of  the  day  in  dealing  with  heathens, 
*»r  14.  gives  us  his  first  intimation  of  the  desirability  of  using 
force  to  make  these  poor  creatures  serve  their  new  masters. 
Columbus  On  returning  to  the  ships  and  setting  sail,  he  soon 
e^dhe  found  that  he  was  in  an  archipelago.  He  had  seized 
natives.  SOme  natives,  who  were  now  on  board.  These  re 
peated  to  him  the  names  of  more  than  a  hundred  islands.  He 
describes  those  within  sight  as  level,  fertile,  and  populous,  and 
he  determined  to  steer  for  what  seemed  the  largest.  He  stood 
1492.  octo-  °ff  an(i  on  during  the  night  of  the  14th,  and  by  noon 
of  the  15th  he  had  reached  this  other  island,  which 
he  found  at  the  easterly  end  to  run  five  leagues  north  and  south, 
and  to  extend  east  and  west  a  distance  of  ten  leagues.  Lured 
/  by  a  still  larger  island  farther  west  he  pushed  on,  and  skirting 
the  shore  reached  its  western  extremity.  He  cast  anchor  there 
at  sunset,  and  named  the  island  Santa  Maria  de  la  Concepcion. 
The  natives  on  board  told  him  that  the  people  here  wore  gold 
bracelets.  Columbus  thought  this  story  might  be  a  device  of 
his  prisoners  to  obtain  opportunities  to  escape.  On  the  next 
1492.  octo-  day,  he  repeated  the  forms  of  landing  and  taking  pos 
session.  Two  of  the  prisoners  contrived  to  escape. 
One  of  them  jumped  overboard  and  was  rescued  by  a  native 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN   VOYAGE.        221 

canoe.  The  Spaniards  overtook  the  canoe,  but  not  till  its  occu 
pants  had  escaped.  A  single  man,  coming  off  in  another 
canoe,  was  seized  and  taken  on  board  ;  but  Columbus  thought 
him  a  good  messenger  of  amity,  and  loading  him  with  presents, 
"  not  worth  four  maravedis,"  he  put  him  ashore.  Columbus 
watched  the  liberated  savage,  and  judged  from  the  wonder  of 
the  crowds  which  surrounded  him  that  his  ruse  of  friendship 
had  been  well  played. 

Another  large  island  appeared  westerly  about  nine  leagues, 
famous  for  its  gold  ornaments,  as  his  prisoners  again 
declared.     It  is  significant  that  in  his  journal,  since  seesTiige 
he  discovered  the  bits  of  gold  at  San  Salvador,  Co 
lumbus  has  not  a  word  to  say  of  reclaiming  the  benighted  hea 
then  ;  but  he  constantly  repeats  his  hope  "  with  the  help  of  our 
Lord,"  of  finding  gold.     On  the  way  thither  he  had  picked  up 
a  second  single  man  in  a  canoe,  who  had  apparently  followed 
him  from  San  Salvador.     He  determined  to  bestow  some  favors 
upon  him  and  let  him  go,  as  he  had  done  with  the  other. 

This  new  island,  which  he  reached  October  16,  and  called 
Fernandina,  he  found  to  be  about  twenty-eight  leagues  1492  Oc_ 
long,  with  a  safer  shore  than  the  others.  He  anchored  tober  1G* 
near  a  village,  where  the  man  whom  he  had  set  free  had  already 
come,  bringing  good  reports  of  the  stranger,  and  so  the  Span 
iards  got  a  kind  reception.  Great  numbers  of  natives  came  off 
in  canoes,  to  whom  the  men  gave  trinkets  and  molasses.  He 
took  on  board  some  water,  the  natives  assisting  the  crew.  Get 
ting  an  impression  that  the  island  contained  a  mine  of  gold,  he 
resolved  to  follow  the  coast,  and  find  Samaot,  where  the  gold 
was  said  to  be.  Columbus  thought  he  saw  some  improvement 
in  the  natives  over  those  he  had  seen  before,  remarking  upon 
the  cotton  cloth  with  which  they  partly  covered  their  persons. 
He  was  surprised  to  find  that  distinct  branches  of  the  same  tree 
bore  different  leaves.  A  single  tree,  as  he  says,  will  show  as 
many  as  five  or  six  varieties,  not  done  by  grafting,  but  a  nat 
ural  growth.  He  wondered  at  the  brilliant  fish,  and  found  no 
land  creatures  but  parrots  and  lizards,  though  a  boy  of  the  com 
pany  told  him  that  he  had  seen  a  snake.  On  Wednesday  he 
started  to  sail  around  the  island.  In  a  little  haven,  where  they 
tarried  awhile,  they  first  entered  the  native  houses.  They 
found  everything  in  them  neat,  with  nets  extended  between 


222 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Hammocks. 


posts,  which  they  called  hamacs,  —  a  name  soon  adopted  by 
sailors  for  swinging-beds.  The  houses  were  shaped 
like  tents,  with  high  chimneys,  but  not  more  than 
twelve  or  fifteen  together.  Dogs  were  running  about  them, 
but  they  could  not  bark.  Columbus  endeavored  to  buy  a  bit 
of  gold,  cut  or  stamped,  which  was  hanging  from  a  man's 
nose ;  but  the  savage  refused  his  offers. 


INDIAN  BEDS. 


The  ships  continued  their  course  about  the  island,  the  weather 
1492.  oc-  no*  altogether  favorable ;  but  on  October  19  they 
tober  19.  veered  away  to  another  island  to  the  west  of  Fernan- 
dina,  which  Columbus  named  Isabella,  after  his  Queen.  This 
he  pronounced  the  most  beautiful  he  had  seen ;  and  he  remarks 
on  the  interior  region  of  it  being  higher  than  in  the  other 
islands,  and  the  source  of  streams.  The  breezes  from  the  shore 
brought  him  odors,  and  when  he  landed  he  became  conscious 
that  his  botanical  knowledge  did  not  aid  him  in  selecting  such 
dyestuffs,  medicines,  and  spices  as  would  command  high  prices 
in  Spain.  He  saw  a  hideous  reptile,  and  the  can  onizers,  after 
their  amusing  fashion,  tell  us  that  "  to  see  and  attack  him  were 
the  same  thing  for  Columbus,  for  he  considered  it  of  impor 
tance  to  accustom  Spanish  intrepidity  to  such  warfare."  The 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN   VOYAGE.        223 

reptile  proved  inoffensive.     The  signs  of  his  prisoners  were  in 
terpreted  to  repeat  here  the  welcome  tale  of  gold.    He  To  find 
understood  them  to  refer  to  a  king  decked  with  gold,  goiumbus's 
"  I  do  not,  however,"  he  adds,  "  give  much  credit  to  these  main  object> 
accounts,  for  I  understand  the  natives  but  imperfectly."    "  I  am 
proceeding  solely  in  quest  of  gold  and  spices,"  he  says  1492    Oo_ 
again.  tobera. 

On  Sunday  they  went  ashore,  and  found  a  house  from  which 
the  occupants  had  recently  departed.  The  foliage  was  en 
chanting.  Flocks  of  parrots  obscured  the  sky.  Specimens 
were  gathered  of  wonderful  trees.  They  killed  a  snake  in  a 
lake.  They  cajoled  some  timid  natives  with  beads,  and  got 
their  help  in  filling  their  water  cask.  They  heard  of  a  very 
large  island  named  Colba,  which  had  ships  and  sail-  Cuba 
ors,  as  the  natives  were  thought  to  say.  They  had  heard  of- 
little  doubt  that  these  stories  referred  to  Cipango.  They  hoped 
the  native  king  would  bring  them  gold  in  the  night ;  but  this 
not  happening,  and  being  cheered  by  the  accounts  of  Colba, 
they  made  up  their  minds  that  it  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to 
search  longer  for  this  backward  king,  and  so  resolved 

»         ,,        ,  .       .   ,         ,  1492.     Oc- 

to  run  tor  the  big  island.  tober24. 

Starting  from  Isabella  at  midnight  on  October  24, 
and  passing   other  smaller  islands,   they  finally,    on   Sunday, 
October  26,  entered  a  river  near  the  easterly  end  of  October26 
Cuba. 

The  track  of  Columbus  from  San  Salvador  to  Cuba  has  been 
as  variously  disputed  as  the  landfall ;  indeed,  the  divergent 
views  of  the  landfall  necessitate  such  later  variations. 

They  landed  within  the  river's  mouth,  and  discov 
ered  deserted  houses,  which  from  the  implements  within  they 
supposed  to  be  the  houses  of  fishermen.     Columbus  observed 
that  the  grass  grew  down  to  the  water's  edge  ;  and  he  reasoned 
therefrom  that  the  sea  could  never  be  rough.     He  now  observed 
mountains,  and  likened  them  to  those  of  Sicily.     He  finally 
supposed  his  prisoners  to  affirm  by  their  signs  that  the  island 
was  too  large  for  a  canoe  to  sail  round  it  in  twenty  days. 
There  were  the  old  stories  of  gold  ;  but  the  mention 
of  pearls  appears  now  for  the  first  time  in  the  journal, 
which  in  this  place,   however,  we  have  only  in  Las   Casas's 
abridgment. 


224  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

When  the  natives  pointed  to  the  interior  and  said,  "  Cuba- 
naean,"  meaning,  it  is  supposed,  an  inland  region,  Columbus 
Columbus  imagined  it  was  a  reference  to  Kublai  Khan ;  and 
Self  8at  tne  Cuban  name  of  Mangon  he  was  very  ready  to  asso- 
Mangi.  ciate  with  the  Mangi  of  Mandeville. 

As  he  still  coasted  westerly  he  found  river  and  village,  and 
made  more  use  of  his  prisoners  than  had  before  been  possible. 
They  seem  by  this  time  to  have  settled  into  an  acquiescent 
spirit.  He  wondered  in  one  place  at  statues  which  looked  like 
women.  He  was  not  quite  sure  whether  the  natives  kept  them 
for  the  love  of  the  beautiful,  or  for  worship. 

He  found  domesticated  fowl ;  and  saw  a  skull,  which  he  sup 
posed  was  a  cow's,  which  was  probably  that  of  the  sea-calf,  a 
denizen  of  these  waters.  He  thought  the  temperature  cooler 
than  in  the  other  islands,  and  ascribed  the  change  to  the  moun 
tains.  He  observed  on  one  of  these  eminences  a  protuberance 
that  looked  like  a  mosque.  Such  interpretation  as  the  Span 
iards  could  make  of  their  prisoners'  signs  convinced  them  that 
if  they  sailed  farther  west  they  would  find  some  potentate,  and 
so  they  pushed  on.  Bad  weather,  however,  delayed  them,  and 
they  again  opened  communication  with  the  natives.  They  could 
hear  nothing  of  gold,  but  saw  a  silver  trinket ;  and  learned,  as 
they  thought,  that  news  of  their  coming  had  been  carried  to  the 
distant  king.  Columbus  felt  convinced  that  the  people  of  these 
regions  were  banded  enemies  of  the  Great  Khan,  and 
suppSes8  that  he  had  at  last  struck  the  continent  of  Cathay, 
t™coast°Sf  and  was  skirting  the  shores  of  the  Zartun  and  Quinsay 
of  Marco  Polo.  Taking  an  observation,  Columbus 
found  himself  to  be  in  21°  north  latitude,  and  as  near  as  he 
could  reckon,  he  was  1142  leagues  west  of  Ferro.  He  really 
was  1105. 

From  Friday,  November  2,  to  Monday,  November  5,  two 
1492.  NO-  Spaniards,  whom  Columbus  had  sent  into  the  interior, 
vember2-5.  accompanie(j  by  some  Indians,  had  made  their  way 
Cuba  unmolested  in  their  search  for  a  king.  They  had  been 

explored.  entertained  here  and  there  with  ceremony,  and  ap 
parently  worshiped  as  celestial  comers.  The  evidences  of  the 
early  Spanish  voyagers  give  pretty  constant  testimony  that  the 
whites  were  supposed  to  have  come  from  the  skies.  Columbus 
had  given  to  his  envoys  samples  of  cinnamon,  pepper,  and  other 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN   VOYAGE.        225 

spices,  which  were  shown  to  the  people.     In  reply,  his  mes 
sengers  learned  that  such  things  grew  to  the  southeast  of  them. 
Columbus  later,  in  his  first  letter,  speaks  of  cinnamon  as  one  of 
the  spices  which  they  found,  but  it  turned  out  to  be  the  bark  of 
a  sort  of  laurel.    Las  Casas,  in  mentioning  this  expedition,  says 
that  the  Spaniards  found  the  natives  smoking  small  tubes  of 
dried  leaves,  filled  with  other  leaves,  which  they  called 
tobacos.     Sir  Arthur  Helps  aptly  remarks   on    this 
trivial  discovery  by  the  Spaniards  of  a  great  financial  resource 
of  modern  statesmen,  since  tobacco  has  in  the  end  proved  more 
productive  to  the  Spanish  crown  than  the  gold  which  Columbus 
sought.     The  Spaniards  found  no  large  villages  ;  but  they  per 
ceived  great  stores  of  fine  cotton  of  a  long  staple.     They  found 
the  people  eating  what  we  must  recognize  as  potatoes. 
The  absence  of  gold  gave  Columbus  an  opportunity  to 
wish*  more  fervently  than  before  for  the  conversion  of  some  of 
these  people. 

While  this  party  was  absent,  Columbus  found  a  quiet  beach, 
and  careened  his  ships,  one  at  a  time.     In  melting  his  tar,  the 
wood  which  he  used  gave  out  a  powerful  odor,  and  he  pro 
nounced  it  the  mastic  gum,  which  Europe  had  always  got  from 
Chios.     As  this  work  was  going  on,  the  Spaniards  got  from  the 
natives,  as  best  they  could,  many  intimations  of  larger  wealth 
and  commerce  to  the  southeast.    Other  strange  stories  one-eyed 
were  told  of  men  with  one  eye,  and  faces  like  dogs,  focdea°men. 
and  of  cruel,  bloodthirsty  man-eaters,  who  fought  to  cannibals. 
appease  their  appetite  on  the  flesh  of  the  slain. 

It  was  not  till  the  12th  of  November  that  Columbus  left  this 
hospitable  haven,  at  daybreak,  in  search  of  a  place  1492.   No_ 
called  Babeque,  "where  gold  was  collected  at  night  vember12- 
by  torch-light  upon  the  shore,  and  afterward  ham-  Babe<iue- 
mered  into  bars."     He  the  more  readily  retraced  his  track,  that 
the  coast  to  the  westward  seemed  to  trend  northerly,  and  he 
dreaded  a  colder  climate.     He  must  leave  for  another  time  the 
sight  of  men  with  tails,  who  inhabited  a  province  in  that  direc 
tion,  as  he  was  informed. 

Again  the  historian  recognizes  how  a  chance  turned  the 
Spaniards  away  from  a  greater  goal.  If  Columbus  had  gone 
on  westerly  and  discovered  the  insular  character  of  Cuba,  he 
might  have  sought  the  main  of  Mexico  and  Yucatan,  and  anti- 


226  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

cipated  the  wonders  of  the  conquest  of  Cortez.  He  never  was 
undeceived  in  believing  that  Cuba  was  the  Asiatic  main. 

Columbus  sailed  back  over  his  course  with  an  inordinate  idea 
of  the  riches  of  the  country  which  he  was  leaving.  He  thought 
the  people  docile ;  that  their  simple  belief  in  a  God  was  easily 
Columbus  t°  be  enlarged  into  the  true  faith,  whereby  Spain 
aSme168  might  gain  vassals  and  the  church  a  people.  He 
managed  to  entice  on  board,  and  took  away,  six  men, 
seven  women,  and  three  children,  condoning  the  act  of  kidnap 
ping  —  the  canonizers  call  it  "  retaining  on  board  "  —  by  a  pur 
pose  to  teach  them  the  Spanish  language,  and  open  a  readier 
avenue  to  their  benighted  souls.  He  allowed  the  men  to  have 
women  to  share  their  durance,  as  such  ways,  he  says,  had 
proved  useful  on  the  coast  of  Guinea. 

The  Admiral  says  in  his  first  letter,  referring  to  his  captives, 
"  that  we  immediately  understood  each  other,  either  by  words 
or  signs."  This  was  his  message  to  expectant  Europe.  His 
journal  is  far  from  conveying  that  impression. 

The  ships  now  steered  east-by-south,  passing  mountainous 
1492.  NO-  lands,  which  on  November  14  he  tried  to  approach. 
vember  14.  After  a  while  he  discovered  a  harbor,  which  he  could 
enter,  and  found  it  filled  with  lofty  wooded  islands,  some 
pointed  and  some  flat  at  the  top.  He  was  quite  sure  he  had 
now  got  among  the  islands  which  are  made  to  swarm  on  the 
Asiatic  coast  in  the  early  accounts  and  maps.  He  now  speaks 
of  his  practice  in  all  his  landings  to  set  up  and  leave  a  cross. 
He  observed,  also,  a  promontory  in  the  bay  fit  for  a  fortress,  and 
caught  a  strange  fish  resembling  a  hog.  He  was  at  this  time 
embayed  in  the  King's  Garden,  as  the  archipelago  is  called. 

Shortly  after  this,  when  they  had  been  baffled  in  their  courses, 
Pinzon  Martin  Alonso  Pinzon,  incited,  as  the  record  says,  by 
his  cupidity  to  find  the  stores  of  gold  to  which  some 
of  his  Indian  captives  had  directed  him,  disregarded  the  Ad 
miral's  signals,  and  sailed  away  in  the  "  Pinta."  The  flagship 
kept  a  light  for  him  all  night,  at  the  mast-head ;  but  in  the 
morning  the  caravel  was  out  of  sight.  The  Admiral  takes  oc 
casion  in  his  journal  to  remark  that  this  was  not  the  first  act 
1492.  NO-  °^  Pinzon's  insubordination.  On  Friday,  November 
vember  23.  23,  the  vessels  approached  a  headland,  which  the 
Indians  called  Bohio.  The  prisoners  here  began  to  manifest 


THE   ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN  VOYAGE.        227 

fear,  for  it  was  a  spot  where  the  one-eyed  people  and  the  can 
nibals  dwelt ;    but   on   Saturday,  November  24,  the  1492.   No_ 
ships  were  forced  back  into  the  gulf  with  the  many  vember  24 
islands,  where  Columbus  found  a  desirable  roadstead,  which  he 
had  not  before  discovered. 

On  Sunday,  exploring  in  a  boat,  he  found  in  a  stream  "  cer 
tain  stones  which  shone  with  spots  of  a  golden  hue ;  1492>  No_ 
and  recollecting  that  gold  was   found   in  the   river  vember25- 
Tagus  near  the  sea,  he  entertained  no  doubt  that  this  was  the 
metal,  and  directed  that  a  collection  of  the  stones  should  be 
made  to  carry  to  the  King  and  Queen."     It  becomes  notice 
able,  as  Columbus  goes  on,  that  every  new  place  surpasses  all 
others ;  the  atmosphere  is  better ;  the  trees  are  more  marvelous. 
He  now  found  pines  fit  for  masts,  and  secured  some  for  the 
"Nina." 

As  he  coasted  the  next  day  along  what  he  believed  to  be  a 
continental  coast,  he  tried  in  his  journal  to  account  for  the 
absence  of  towns  in  so  beautiful  a  country.  That  there  were 
inhabitants  he  knew,  for  he  found  traces  of  them  on  going 
ashore.  He  had  discovered  that  all  the  natives  had  a  great 
dread  of  a  people  whom  they  called  Caniba  or  Canima,  and  he 
argued  that  the  towns  were  kept  back  from  the  coast  to  avoid 
the  chances  of  the  maritime  attacks  of  this  fierce  people.  There 
was  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  Columbus  that  these  inroads  were 
conducted  by  subjects  of  the  Great  Khan. 

While  he  was  still  stretching  his  course  along  this  coast, 
observing  its  harbors,  seeing  more  signs  of  habitation,  and 
attempting  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  frightened  natives,  now 
anchoring  in  some  haven,  and  now  running  up  adjacent  rivers 
in  a  galley,  he  found  time  to  jot  down  in  this  journal  for  the 
future  perusal  of  his  sovereigns  some  of  his  suspicions,  prophe 
cies,  and  determinations.  He  complains  of  the  difficulty  of 
understanding  his  prisoners,  and  seems  conscious  of  his  fre 
quent  misconceptions  of  their  meaning.  He  says  he  has  lost 
confidence  in  them,  and  somewhat  innocently  imagines  that  they 
would  escape  if  they  could !  Then  he  speaks  of  a  determina 
tion  to  acquire  their  language,  which  he  supposes  to  be  the  same 
through  all  the  region.  "  In  this  way,"  he  adds,  "  we  can  learn 
the  riches  of  the  country,  and  make  endeavors  to  convert  these 
people  to  our  religion,  for  they  are  without  even  the  faith  of  an 


228  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

idolater."  He  descants  upon  the  salubrity  of  the  air  ;  not  one 
of  his  crew  had  had  any  illness,  "  except  an  old  man,  all  his  life 
a  sufferer  from  the  stone."  There  is  at  times  a  somewhat  amus 
ing  innocence  in  his  conclusions,  as  when  finding  a  cake  of  wax 
in  one  of  the  houses,  which  Las  Casas  thinks  was  brought  from 
Yucatan,  he  "  was  of  the  opinion  that  where  wax  was  found 
there  must  be  a  great  many  other  valuable  commodities." 

The  ships  were  now  detained  in  their  harbor  for  several  days, 
during  which  the  men  made  excursions,  and  found  a  populous 
country ;  they  succeeded  at  times  in  getting  into  communication 
1492.  DC-  w^h  the  natives.  Finally,  on  December  4,  he  left  the 
cember  4.  puerto  Santo,  as  he  called  it,  and  coasting  along  east 
erly  he  reached  the  next  day  the  extreme  eastern  end  of  what 
Leaves  Cuba  we  now  know  to  be  Cuba,  or  Juana  as  he  had  named  it, 
or  Juana.  after  Prince  Juan.  Cruising  about,  he  seems  to  have 
had  an  apprehension  that  the  land  he  had  been  following  might 
not  after  all  be  the  main,  for  he  appears  to  have  looked  around 
the  southerly  side  of  this  end  of  Cuba  and  to  have  seen  the 
southwesterly  trend  of  its  coast.  He  observed,  the  same  day, 

lan^  in  *ne  southeast,  which  his  Indians  called  Bohio, 

an(j  ^jg  wag  sufosequently  named  Espanola.  Las 
Casas  explains  that  Columbus  here  mistook  the  Indian  word 
meaning  house  for  the  name  of  the  island,  which  was  really  in 
their  tongue  called  Haiti.  It  is  significant  of  the  difficulty  in 
identifying  the  bays  and  headlands  of  the  journal,  that  at  this 
point  Las  Casas  puts  on  one  side,  and  Navarrete  on  the  opposite 
side,  of  the  passage  dividing  Cuba  from  Espanola,  one  of  the 
capes  which  Columbus  indicates.  Changing  his  course  for  this 
lofty  island,  he  dispatched  the  "  Nina  "  to  search  its  shore  and 
find  a  harbor.  That  night  the  Admiral's  ship  beat  about,  wait 
ing  for  daylight.  When  it  came,  he  took  his  observations  of 
the  coast,  and  espying  an  island  separated  by  a  wide  channel 

from  the  other  land,  he  named  this  island  Tortuga. 

Finding  his  way  into  a  harbor  —  the  present  St.  Nich 
olas  —  he  declares  that  a  thousand  caracks  could  sail  about  in 
it.  Here  he  saw,  as  before,  large  canoes,  and  many  natives, 
who  fled  on  his  approach.  The  Spaniards  soon  began  as  they 
went  on  to  observe  lofty  and  extensive  mountains,  "  the  whole 
country  appearing  like  Castile."  They  saw  another  reminder 
of  Spain  as  they  were  rowing  about  a  harbor,  which  they 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN   VOYAGE.        229 

entered,  and  which  was  opposite  Tortuga,  when  a  skate  leaped 
into  their  boat,  and  the  Admiral  records  it  as  a  first  instance  in 
which  they  had  seen  a  fish  similar  to  those  of  the  Spanish 
waters.  He  says,  too,  that  he  heard  on  the  shore  nightingales 
"  and  other  Spanish  birds,"  mistaking  of  course  their  identity. 
He  saw  myrtles  and  other  trees  "  like  those  of  Castile."  There 
was  another  obvious  reference  to  the  old  country  in  the  name 
of  Espaiiola,  which  he  now  bestowed  upon  the  island.  He  could 
find  few  of  the  inhabitants,  and  conjectured  that  their  towns  were 
back  from  the  coast.  The  men,  however,  captured  a  handsome 
young  woman  who  wore  a  bit  of  gold  at  her  nose  ;  and  having 
bestowed  upon  her  gifts,  let  her  go.  Soon  after,  the  Admiral 
sent  a  party  to  a  town  of  a  thousand  houses,  thinking  the  luck 
of  the  woman  would  embolden  the  people  to  have  a  parley.  The 
inhabitants  fled  in  fear  at  first ;  but  growing  bolder  came  in 
great  crowds,  and  brought  presents  of  parrots. 

It  was  here  that  Columbus  took  his  latitude  and  found  it  to 
be  17°,  —  while  in  fact  it  was  20°.     The  journal  gives  Columbus 
numerous  instances   during  all  these  explorations  of  finds  his  iat- 
the  bestowing  of  names  upon  headlands  and  harbors, 
few  of  which  have  remained  to  this  day.     It  was  a  common  cus 
tom  to  make  such  use  of  a  Saint's  name  on  his  natal  day. 

Dr.  Shea  in  a  paper  which  he  published  in  1876,  in  the  first 
volume  of  the  American  Catholic   Quarterly*  has  emphasized 
the  help  which  the  Roman  nomenclature   of  Saints'   Saint8, 
days,  given  to   rivers  and  headlands,  affords  to  the   names' 
geographical  student  in  tracking  the  early  explorers  along  the 
coasts  of  the  New  World.     This  method  of  tracing  the  progress 
of  maritime  discovery  suggested  itself  early  to  Oviedo,  and  has 
been  appealed   to   by  Henry   C.   Murphy  and   other  modern 
authorities  on  this  subject. 

Finally,  on  Friday,  December  14,  they  sailed  out  of  the  har 
bor  toward  Tortuga.     He  found  this  island  to  be  under   1492.   De- 
extensive  cultivation  like  a  plain  of  Cordoba.      The  cember14- 
wind  not  holding  for  him  to  take  the  course  which  he  wished 
to  run,  Columbus  returned  to  his  last  harbor,  the  Puerto  de  la 
Concepcion.     Again  on  Saturday  he  left  it,  and  standing  across 
to  Tortuga  once   more,  he  went  towards  the  shore 
and  proceeded,  up  a  stream  in  his  boats.     The  inhab 
itants  fled  as  he  approached,  and  burning  fires  in  Tortuga  as 


230  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

well  as  in  Espanola  seemed  to  be  signals  that  the  Spaniards 
were  moving.  During  the  night,  proceeding  along  the  channel 
between  the  two  islands,  the  Admiral  met  and  took  on  board  a 
solitary  Indian  in  his  canoe.  The  usual  gifts  were  put  upon 
him,  and  when  the  ships  anchored  near  a  village,  he  was  sent 
ashore  with  the  customary  effect.  The  beach  soon  swarmed  with 
people,  gathered  with  their  king,  and  some  came  on  board.  The 
Spaniards  got  from  them  without  difficulty  the  bits  of  gold 
which  they  wore  at  their  ears  and  noses.  One  of  the  captive 
Indians  who  talked  with  the  king  told  this  "  youth  of  twenty- 
one,"  that  the  Spaniards  had  come  from  heaven  and  were  going 
to  Babeque  to  find  gold ;  and  the  king  told  the  Admi- 

Babeque.  ..  ITT  . 

ral  s  messenger,  who  delivered  to  him  a  present,  that 
if  he  sailed  in  a  certain  course  two  days  he  would  arrive 
there.  This  is  the  last  we  hear  of  Babeque,  a  place  Columbus 
never  found,  at  least  under  that  name.  Humboldt  remarks  that 
Columbus  mentions  the  name  of  Babeque  more  than  fourteen 
times  in  his  journal,  but  it  cannot  certainly  be  identified  with 
Espanola,  as  the  Historic  of  1571  declares  it  to  be.  D'Avezac 
has  since  shared  Humboldt's  view.  Las  Casas  hesitatingly 
thought  it  might  have  referred  to  Jamaica. 

Then  the  journal  describes  the  country,  saying  that  the  land 
is  lofty,  but  that  the  highest  mountains  are  arable,  and  that  the 
trees  are  so  luxuriant  that  they  become  black  rather  than  green. 
The  journal  further  describes  this  new  people  as  stout  and 
courageous,  very  different  from  the  timid  islanders  of  other 
parts,  and  without  religion.  With  his  usual  habit  of  contradic 
tion,  Columbus  goes  on  immediately  to  speak  of  their  pusilla 
nimity,  saying  that  three  Spaniards  were  more  than  a  match  for 
a  thousand  of  them.  He  prefigures  their  fate  in  calling  them 
"  well-fitted  to  be  governed  and  set  to  work  to  till  the  land 
and  do  whatsoever  is  necessary." 

It  was  on  Monday,  December  17,  while  lying  off  Espanola, 

1492.  De-     tnat  the   Spaniards  got  for  the  first  time  something 

>17>     more  than  rumor  respecting  the  people  of  Caniba  or 

the  cannibals.     These  new  evidences  were  certain  arrows  which 

the  natives  showed  to  them,  and  which  they  said  had 

Cannibals. 

belonged  to  those  man-eaters.  They  were  pieces  of 
cane,  tipped  with  sticks  which  had  been  hardened  by  fire. 
"  They  were  exhibited  by  two  Indians  who  had  lost  some  flesh 


THE  ISLANDS  AND    THE  RETURN   VOYAGE.        231 

from  their  bodies,  eaten  out  by  the  cannibals.  This  the  Admiral 
did  not  believe."  It  was  now,  too,  that  the  Spaniards  found 
gold  in  larger  quantities  than  they  had  seen  it  before.  They 
saw  some  beaten  into  thin  plates.  The  cacique  —  here  this 
word  appears  for  the  first  time  —  cut  a  plate  as  big 

i  .      i          -i     •     .          .  11  .    .  Cacique. 

as  his  hand  into  pieces  and  bartered  them,  promising 
to  have  more  to  exchange  the  next  day.  He  gave  the  Span 
iards  to  understand  that  there  was  more  gold  in  Tortuga  than  in 
Espanola.  It  is  to  be  remarked,  also,  in  the  Admiral's  account, 
that  while  "  Our  Lord  "  is  not  recorded  as  indicating  to  him  any 
method  of  converting  the  poor  heathen,  it  was  "  Our  Lord  "  who 
was  now  about  to  direct  the  Admiral  to  Babeque. 

The  next  day,  December  18,  the  Admiral  lay  at  anchor,  both 
because  wind  failed  him,   and   because  he  would  be  1492.   De^ 
able  to  see  the  gold  which  the  cacique  had  promised  cember  18- 
to  bring.     It  also  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  deck  his  ships 
and  fire  his  guns  in  honor  of  the  Annunciation  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin. 

In  due  time  the  king  appeared,  borne  on  a  sort  of  litter  by  his 
men,  and  boarding  the  ship,  that  chieftain  found  Columbus  at 
table  in  his  cabin.  The  cacique  was  placed  beside  the  Admiral, 
and  similar  viands  and  drinks  were  placed  before  him,  of  which 
he  partook.  Two  of  his  dusky  followers,  sitting  at  his  feet,  fol 
lowed  their  master  in  the  act.  Columbus,  observing  that  the 
hangings  of  his  bed  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  savage, 
gave  them  to  him,  and  added  to  the  present  some  amber  beads 
from  his  own  neck,  some  red  shoes,  and  a  flask  of  orange-flower 
water.  "  This  day,"  says  the  record,  "  little  gold  was  obtained  ; 
but  an  old  man  indicated  that  at  a  distance  of  a  hundred 
leagues  or  more  were  some  islands,  where  much  gold  could  be 
found,  and  in  some  it  was  so  plentiful  that  it  was  collected  and 
bolted  with  sieves,  then  melted  and  beaten  into  divers  forms. 
One  of  the  islands  was  said  to  be  all  gold,  and  the  Admiral 
determined  to  go  in  the  direction  which  this  man  pointed." 

That  night  they  tried  in  vain  to  stand  out  beyond  Tortuga, 
but  on  the  20th  of  December,  the  record  places  the   1492.   De_ 
ships  in  a  harbor  between  a  little  island,  which  Colum-  cember20- 
bus  called  St.  Thomas,  and  the  main  island.    During  the  follow 
ing  day,  December  21,  he  surveyed  the  roadstead,  and  st  ThomaB 
going  about  the  region  in  his  boats,  he  had  a  num-  Island- 


232  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

ber  of  interviews  with  the  natives,  which  ended  with  an  inter 
change  of  gifts  and  courtesies. 

On  Saturday,  December  22,  they  encountered  some  people, 
1492.  De-  sen*  by  a  neighboring  cacique,  whom  the  Admiral's 
cember22.  own  ln(jians  could  not  readily  understand,  the  first  of 
this  kind  mentioned  in  the  journal.  Writing  in  regard  to  a 
party  which  Columbus  at  this  time  sent  to  visit  a  large  town 
not  far  off,  he  speaks  of  having  his  secretary  accompany  them,  in 
order  to  repress  the  Spaniards'  greediness,  —  an  estimate  of  his 
followers  which  the  Admiral  had  not  before  suffered  himself  to 
record,  if  we  can  trust  the  Las  Casas  manuscript.  The  results 
of  this  foray  were  three  fat  geese  and  some  bits  of  gold.  As 
he  entered  the  adventure  in  his  journal,  he  dwelt  on  the  hope  of 
gold  being  on  the  island  in  abundance,  and  if  only  the  spot 
oould  be  found,  it  might  be  got  for  little  or  nothing.  "  Our 
Lord,  in  whose  hands  are  all  things,  be  my  help,"  he  cries. 
"  Our  Lord,  in  his  mercy,  direct  me  where  I  may  find  the  gold 
mine." 

The  Admiral  now  learns  the  name  of  another  chief  officer, 
Nitayno,  whose  precise  position  was  not  apparent,  but  Las 
Casas  tells  us  later  that  this  word  was  the  title  of  one  nearest 

in  rank  to  the  cacique.      When  an  Indian  spoke  of 

a  place  named  Cibao,  far  to  the  east,  where  the  king- 
had  banners  made  of  plates  of  gold,  the  Admiral,  in  his  eager 
confidence,  had  no  hesitation  in  identifying  it  with  Cipango 
and  its  gorgeous  prince.  It  proved  to  be  the  place  where  in  the 
end  the  best  mines  were  found. 

In  speaking  of  the  next  day,  Sunday,  December  23,  Las  Casas 
1492.  De-  tells  us  that  Columbus  was  not  in  the  habit  of  sailing 
cember23.  Qn  gun(jay?  not  because  he  was  superstitious,  but  be 
cause  he  was  pious  ;  but  that  he  did  not  omit  the  opportunity 
at  this  time  of  coursing  the  coast,  "  in  order  to  display  the 
symbols  of  Redemption." 

Christmas  found  them  in  distress.  The  night  before,  every 
thing  looking  favorable,  and  the  vessel  sailing  along  quietly, 
Columbus  had  gone  to  bed,  being  much  in  need  of  rest.  The 

helmsnlan  put  a  boy  at  the  tiller  and  went  to  sleep. 
ship-  The  rest  of  the  crew  were  not  slow  to  do  the  same. 

The  vessel  was  in  this  condition,  with  no  one  but  the 
boy  awake,  when,  carried  out  of  her  course  by  the  current,  she 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.         233 

struck  a  sand  bank.  The  cry  of  the  boy  awakened  the  Admi 
ral,  and  he  was  the  first  to  discover  the  danger  of  their  situa 
tion.  He  ordered  out  a  boat's  crew  to  carry  an  anchor  astern, 
but,  bewildered  or  frightened,  the  men  pulled  for  the  "  Nina." 
The  crew  of  that  caravel  warned  them  off,  to  do  their  duty, 
and  sent  their  own  boat  to  assist.  Help,  however,  availed  noth 
ing.  The  "  Santa  Maria  "  had  careened,  and  her  seams  were 
opening.  Her  mast  had  been  cut  away,  but  she  failed  to  right 
herself.  The  Admiral  now  abandoned  her  and  rowed  to  the 
"  Nina  "  with  his  men.  Communicating  with  the  cacique  in  the 
morning,  that  chieftain  sent  many  canoes  to  assist  in  unloading 
the  ship,  so  that  in  a  short  time  everything  of  value  was  saved. 
This  assistance  gave  occasion  for  mutual  confidences  between 
the  Spaniards  and  the  natives.  "  They  are  a  loving,  uncovetous 
people,"  he  enters  in  his  journal.  One  wonders,  with  the  later 
experience  of  his  new  friends,  if  the  cacique  could  have  said  as 
much  in  return.  The  Admiral  began  to  be  convinced  that  "  the 
Lord  had  permitted  the  shipwreck  in  order  that  he  might 
choose  this  place  for  a  settlement."  The  canonizers  go  further 
and  say.  "  the  shipwreck  made  him  an  engineer." 

Irving,  whose  heedless  embellishments  of  the  story  of  these 
times  may  amuse  the  pastime  reader,  but  hardly  satisfy  the 
student,  was  not  blind  to  the  misfortunes  of  what  Columbus  at 
the  time  called  the  divine  interposition.  "  This  shipwreck," 
Irving  says,  "  shackled  and  limited  all  Columbus's  future  dis 
coveries.  It  linked  his  fortunes  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  to 
this  island,  which  was  doomed  to  be  to  him  a  source  of  cares 
and  troubles,  to  involve  him  in  a  thousand  perplexities,  and  to 
becloud  his  declining  years  with  humiliation  and  disappoint 
ment." 

The  saving  of  his  stores  and  the  loss  of  his  ship  had  indeed 
already  suggested  what  some  of  his  men  had  asked  for,  that 
they  might  be  left  there,  while  the  Admiral  returned  to  Spain 
with  the  tidings  of  the  discovery,  if  —  as  the  uncomfortable 
thought  sprung  up  in  his  mind  —  he  had  not  already  been 
anticipated  by  the  recreant  commander  of  the  "  Pinta."  Accord 
ingly  Columbus  ordered  the  construction  of  a  fort, 

*V  T      i  Fort  built. 

with  tower  and   ditch,   and  arrangements  were  soon 

made  to  provide  bread  and  wine  for  more  than  a  year,  beside 

seed  for  the  next  planting-time.     The  ship's  long-boat  could  be 


234  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

left;  and  a  calker,  carpenter,  cooper,  engineer,  tailor,  and  sur 
geon  could  be  found  among  his  company,  to  be  of  the  party 
who  were  to  remain  and  "  search  for  the  gold  mine."  He  says 
that  he  expected  they  would  collect  a  ton  of  gold  in  the  interval 
of  his  absence  ;  "  for  I  have  before  protested  to  your  High 
nesses,"  he  adds  as  he  makes  an  entry  for  his  sovereigns  to  read, 
"  that  the  profits  shall  go  to  making  a  conquest  of  Jerusalem." 

We  know  the  names  of  those  who  agreed  to   stay  on  the 
Garrison  of    island.     Navarrete  discovered  the  list  in  a  proclama- 

LaNavidad. 


next  of  kin.     This  list  gives  forty  names,  though  some  accounts 
of  the  voyage  say  they  numbered  a  few  less.     The  company 
included  the  Irishman  and  Englishman  already  mentioned. 
On  the  27th  of  December,  Columbus  got  the  first  tidings  of 

1492.  De-     tne  "  Pinta  "  since  she  deserted  -him  ;  and  he  sent  a 
cember  27.     Spaniard,  with  Indians  to  handle  the  canoe,  to  a  har 
bor  at  the  end  of  the  island,  where  he  supposed  Pinzon's  ship 
to  be.     Columbus  was  now  perfecting  his  plans  for  the  fort, 
and  tried  to  make  out  if  Guacanagari,  the  king,  was  not  trying 
December      *o  conceal  from  him  the  situation  of  the  mines.     On 

Sunday,  December  30,  the  Spanish  and  native  leaders 
vied  with  each  other  in  graciousness.  The  savage  put  his  crown 
upon  the  Admiral.  Columbus  took  off  his  necklace  and  scarlet 
cloak  and  placed  them  on  the  king.  He  clothed  the  savage's 
naked  feet  with  buskins  and  decked  the  dusky  hand  with  a  sil- 
December  ver  rmg>  On  Monday,  work  was  resumed  in  prepar 

ing  for  their  return  to  Spain,  for,  with  the  "  Pinta  " 
gone  —  for  the  canoe  sent  to  find  her  had  returned  unsuccessful 
—  and  the  "  Nina  "  alone  remaining,  it  was  necessary  to  dimin 
ish  the  risk  attending  the  enterprise. 

On  January  2,  1493,  there  was  to  be  leave-taking  of    the 

1493.  Janu-  cacique.    To  impart  to  him  and  to  his  people  a  dread  of 
ary  2*  Spanish  power,  in  the  interests  of  those  to  be  left,  he 
made  an  exhibition  of  the  force  of  his  bombards,  by  sending  a 
shot  clean  through  the  hull  of  the  dismantled  wreck.    It  is  curi 
ous  to  observe  how  Irving,  with  a  somewhat  cheap  melodramatic 
instinct,  makes  this  shot  tear  through  a  beautiful  grove  like  a 
bolt  from  heaven  ! 

The  king  made  some  return  by  ordering  an  effigy  of  Colum 
bus  to  be  finished  in  gold,  in  ten  days,  —  as  at  least  so  Colum- 


THE  ISLANDS  AND    THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.         235 

bus  understood  one  of  his  Indians  to  announce  the  cacique's 
purpose. 

Having  commissioned  Diego  de  Arana  as  commander  and 
Pedro  Gutierrez  and  Roderigo  de  Escovedo  to  act  as  his  lieu 
tenants  of  the  fort  and  its  thirty-nine  men,  Columbus  now  em 
barked,  but  not  before  he  had  addressed  all  sorts  of  good  advice 
to  those  he  was  to  leave  behind,  —  advice  that  did  no  good,  if 
the  subsequent  events  are  clearly  divined.  It  was  not,  however, 
till  Friday,  January  4,  1493,  that  the  wind  permitted  1493  Janu. 
him  to  stand  out  of  the  harbor  of  the  Villa  de  Navi-  ary  4- 
dad,  as  he  had  named  the  fort  and  settlement  from  the  fact  of 
his  shipwreck  there  on  the  day  of  the  nativity.  Two 
days  later  they  met  the  "  Pinta,"  and  Pinzon,  her 
commander,  soon  boarded  the  Admiral  to  explain  his  absence, 
"  saying  he  had  left  against  his  will."  The  Admiral  doubted 
such  professions  ;  but  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  show  active 
resentment,  as  Las  Casas  tells  us.  The  fact  apparently  was  that 
Pinzon  had  not  found  the  gold  he  went  in  search  of  and  so  he 
had  returned  to  meet  his  commander.  He  had  been  coasting 
the  island  for  over  twenty  days,  and  had  been  seen  by  the 
natives,  who  made  the  report  to  the  Admiral  already  mentioned. 
Some  Indians  whom  he  had  taken  captive  were  subsequently 
released  by  the  Admiral,  for  the  usual  ulterior  purpose.  It  is 
curious  to  observe  how  an  act  of  kidnapping  which  emulated 
the  Admiral's,  if  done  by  Pinzon,  is  called  by  the  canonizers, 
"  joining  violence  to  rapine." 

At  this  time  Columbus  records  his  first  intelligence  respecting 
an  island,  Yamaye,  south  of  Cuba,  which  seems  to  have 
been  Jamaica,  where,  as  he  learned,  .gold  was  to  be 
found  in  grains  of  the  size  of  beans,   while  in    Espanola  the 
grains  were  nearly  the  size  of  kernels  of  wheat.     He  was  also 
informed  of  an  island  to  the  east,  inhabited  by  women  only. 
He  also  understood  that  the  people  of  the  continent  to  the  south 
were  clothed,  and  did  not  go  naked  like  those  of  the  islands. 

Both  vessels  now  having  made  a  harbor,  and  the  "  Nilia  "  be 
ginning  to  leak,  a  day  was  spent  in  calking  her  seams.  Colum 
bus  was  not  without  apprehension  that  the  two  brothers,  Martin 
Alonso  Pinzon  of  the  "  Pinta,"  and  Vicente  Janez  Pinzon  who 
had  commanded  the  "  Nina,"  might  now  with  their  adherents 
combine  for  mischief.  He  was  accordingly  all  the  more  anxious 


236    .  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

to  hasten  his  departure,  without  further  following  the  coast  of 
Espanola.  Going  up  a  river  to  replenish  his  water,  he  found  on 
taking  the  casks  on  board  that  the  crevices  of  the  hoops  had 
gathered  fine  bits  of  gold  from  the  stream.  This  led  him  to 
count  the  neighboring  streams,  which  he  supposed  might  also 
contain  gold. 

It  was  not  only  gold  which  he  saw.     Three  mermaids  stood 
high  out  of  the  water,  with  not  very  comely  faces  to 

Columbus  &  .  J  .      J 

sees  mer-       be  sure,  but  similar  to  those  ot  human  beings ;  and  he 

maids. 

recalled  having  seen  the  like  on  the  pepper  coast  in 
Guinea.  The  commentators  suppose  they  may  have  been  sea- 
calves  indistinctly  seen. 

The  two  ships  started  once  more  on  the    10th,   sometimes 

lying  to  at  night  for  fear  of  shoals,  making  and  nam- 

1493.   Janu-       J       °  c 

sw  s°saiiTfor  ^n&  caPe  a^ter  caPe-  On  the  12th,  entering  a  harbor, 
Spain.  Columbus  discovered  an  Indian,  whom  he  took  for  a 

January  12.  Carib,  as  he  had  learned  to  call  the  cannibals  which 
he  so  often  heard  of.  His  own  Indians  did  not  wholly 
understand  this  strange  savage.  When  they  sent  him  ashore 
the  Spaniards  found  fifty-five  Indians  armed  with  bows  and 
wooden  swords.  They  were  prevailed  upon  at  first  to  hold 
communication ;  but  soon  showed  a  less  friendly  spirit,  and 
Columbus  for  the  first  time  records  a  fight,  in  which  several  of 
the  natives  were  wounded.  An  island  to-  the  eastward  was  now 
supposed  to  be  the  Carib  region,  and  he  desired  to  capture 
some  of  its  natives.  Navarrete  supposes  that  Porto  Rico  is  here 
referred  to.  He  also  observed,  as  his  vessels  went  easterly,  that 
he  was  encountering  some  of  the  same  sort  of  seaweed  which  he 
had  sailed  through  when  steering  west,  and  it  occurred  to  him 
that  perhaps  these  islands  stretched  easterly,  so  as  really  to 
be  not  far  distant  from  the  Canaries.  It  may  be  observed  that 
this  propinquity  of  the  new  islands  to  those  of  the  Atlantic, 
longer  known,  was  not  wholly  eradicated  from  the  maps  till 
well  into  the  earlier  years  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

They  had  secured  some  additional  Indians  near  where  they 
had  had  their  fight,  and  one  of  them  now  directed  Columbus 
towards  the  island  of  the  Caribs.  The  leaks  of  the  vessels  in 
creasing  and  his  crews  desponding,  Columbus  soon  thought  it 
more  prudent  to  shift  his  course  for  Spain  direct,  supposing  at 
the  same  time  that  it  would  take  him  near  Matinino,  where  the 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.        237 

tribe  of  women  lived.     He  had  gotten  the  story  somehow,  very 
likely  by  a  credulous  adaptation  of  Marco  Polo,  that  Carib8  and 
the   Caribs  visited  this  island  once   a  year  and   re-  Amazons- 
claimed  the  male  offspring,  leaving  the  female  young  to  keep 
up  the  tribe. 

In  following  the  Admiral  along  these  coasts  of  Cuba  and 
Espanola,  no  attempt  has  here  been  made  to  identify  all  his 
bays  and  rivers.  Navarrete  and  the  other  commentators  have 
done  so,  but  not  always  with  agreement. 

On  the  16th,  they  had  their  last  look  at  a  distant  cape  of 
Espanola,  and  were  then  in  the  broad  ocean,  with  sea-  1493    Janu. 
weed  and  tunnies  and  pelicans  to  break  its  monotony.   ary  16t 
The  "  Pinta,"  having  an  unsound  mast,  lagged  behind,  and  so 
the  "  Nina  "  had  to  slacken  sail. 

Columbus  now  followed  a  course  which  for  a  long  time,  owing 
to  defects  in  the  methods  of  ascertaining  longitude,  Homeward 
was  the  mariner's  readiest  recourse  to  reach  his  port.   v°yase- 
This  was  to  run  up  his  latitudes  to  that  of  his  destination,  and 
then  follow  the  parallel  till  he  sighted  a  familiar  landmark. 

By  February  10,  when  they  began  to  compare  reckonings, 
Columbus  placed  his  position  in  the  latitude  of  Flores,   1493    Feb. 
while  the  others  thought  they  were  on  a  more  southern  ruary  10 
course,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  nearer  Spain.     By  the 
12th  it  was  apparent  that  a  gale  was  coming  on.    The  next  day, 
February  13,  the   storm  increased.     During  the  fol 
lowing  night  both  vessels  took  in  all  sail  and  scudded 
before  the  wind.     They  lost  sight  of  each  other's  lights,  and 
never  joined  company.     The  "  Pinta  "  with  her  weak  mast  was 
blown  away  to  the  north.     The  Admiral's  ship  could  bear  the 
gale  better,  but  as  his  ballast  was  insufficient,  he  had 
to  fill  his  water  casks  with  sea-water.     Sensible  of 
their  peril,  his  crew  made  vows,  to  be  kept  if  they  were  saved. 
They  drew  lots  to  determine  who  should  carry  a  wax  taper  of 
five  pounds  to  St.  Mary  of  Guadalupe,  and  the  penance  fell  to 
the  Admiral.     A  sailor  by  another  lot  was  doomed  to  make  a 
pilgrimage  to  St.  Mary  of  Lorette  in  the  papal  territory.     A 
third  lot  was  drawn  for  a  night  watch  at  St.  Clara  de  Mogues, 
and  it  fell  upon  Columbus.     Then  they  all  vowed  to  pay  their 
devotions  at  the  nearest  church  of  Our  Lady  if  only  they  got 
ashore  alive. 


238  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

There  was  one  thought  which  more  than  another  troubled 
Columbus  at  thft  moment,  and  this  was  that  in  case  his  ship 
foundered,  the  world  might  never  know  of  his  success,  for  he 
was  apprehensive  that  the  "  Pinta "  had  already  foundered. 
Not  to  alarm  the  crew,  he  kept  from  them  the  fact  that  a  cask 
A  narrative  which  they  had  seen  him  throw  overboard  contained 
thTOwn0^?  an  account  of  his  voyage,  written  on  parchment, 

rolled  in  a  waxed  cloth.  He  trusted  to  the  chance  of 
some  one  finding  it.  He  placed  a  similar  cask  on  the  poop,  to 
be  washed  off  in  case  the  ship  went  down.  He  does  not  men 
tion  this  in  the  journal. 

After  sunset  on  the  15th  there  were  signs  of  clearing  in  the 

west,  and  the  waves  began  to  fall.     The  next  morning 

1493.    Feb-  ,  i        J       i_       j         AT 

ruary  is.  at  sunrise  there  was  land  ahead.  Now  came  the  test 
February  16.  of  their  reckoning.  Some  thought  it  the  rock  of  Cin- 
tra  near  Lisbon  ;  others  said  Madeira ;  Columbus  de 
cided  they  were  near  the  Azores.  The  land  was  soon  made  out 
to  be  an  island  ;  but  a  head  wind  thwarted  them.  Other  land 
was  next  seen  astern.  While  they  were  saying  their  Salve  in 
the  evening,  some  of  the  crew  discerned  a  light  to  leeward, 
At  the  which  might  have  been  on  the  island  first  seen.  Then 
Azores.  later  they  saw  another  island,  but  night  and  the  clouds 
obscured  it  too  much  to  be  recognized.  The  journal  is  blank 
1493  Feb-  ^or  *ne  17th  of  February,  except  that  under  the  next 
ruary  18.  ft^  fav  18th,  Columbus  records  that  after  sunset  of 
the  17th  they  sailed  round  an  island  to  find  an  anchorage  ;  but 
being  unsuccessful  in  the  search  they  beat  out  to  sea  again.  In 
the  morning  of  the  18th  they  stood  in,  discovered  an  anchor 
age,  sent  a  boat  ashore,  and  found  it  was  St.  Mary's  of  the 
Azores.  Columbus  was  right ! 

After  sunset  he  received  some  provisions,  which  Juan  de  Cas- 
teneda,  the  Portuguese  governor  of  the  island,  had  sent  to  him. 
Meanwhile  three  Spaniards  whom  Columbus  sent  ashore  had 
failed  to  return,  not  a  little  to  his  disturbance,  for  he  was  aware 
that  there  might  be  among  the  Portuguese  some  jealousy  of  his 
success.  To  fulfill  one  of  the  vows  made  during  the  gale,  he 
now  sent  one  half  his  crew  ashore  in  penitential  garments  to  a 
hermitage  near  the  shore,  intending  on  their  return  to  go  him 
self  with  the  other  half.  The  record  then  reads :  "  The  men 
being  at  their  devotion,  they  were  attacked  by  Casteneda  with 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.         239 

horse  and  foot,  and  made  prisoners."  Not  being  able  to  see  the 
hermitage  from  his  anchorage,  and  not  suspecting  this  event, 
but  still  anxious,  he  made  sail  and  proceeded  till  he  got  a  view 
of  the  spot.  Now  he  saw  the  horsemen,  and  how  presently  they 
dismounted,  and  with  arms  in  their  hands,  entering  a  boat,  ap 
proached  the  ship.  Then  followed  a  parley,  in  which  Columbus 
thought  he  discovered  a  purpose  of  the  Portuguese  to  capture 
him,  and  they  on  their  part  discovered  it  to  be  not  quite  safe 
to  board  the  Admiral.  To  enforce  his  dignity  and  authority 
as  a  representative  of  the  sovereigns  of  Castile,  he  held  up  to 
the  boats  his  commission  with  its  royal  insignia  ;  and  reminded 
them  that  his  instructions  had  been  to  treat  all  Portuguese  ships 
with  respect,  since  a  spirit  of  amity  existed  between  the  two 
Crowns.  It  behooved  the  Portuguese,  as  he  told  them,  to  be 
wary  lest  by  any  hostile  act  they  brought  upon  themselves  the 
indignation  of  those  higher  in  authority.  The  lofty  bearing  of 
Casteneda  continuing,  Columbus  began  to  fear  that  hostilities 
might  possibly  have  broken  out  between  Spain  and  Portugal. 
So  the  interview  ended  with  little  satisfaction  to  either,  and  the 
Admiral  returned  to  his  old  anchorage.  The  next  day,  to  work 
off  the  lee  shore,  they  sailed  for  St.  Michael's,  and  the  weather 
continuing  stormy  he  found  himself  crippled  in  having  but 
three  experienced  seamen  among  the  crew  which  remained  to 
him.  So  not  seeing  St.  Michael's  they  again  bore  away,  on 
Thursday  the  21st,  for  St.  Mary's,  and  again  reached  1493  Feb_ 
their  former  anchorage.  ruary  21> 

The  storms  of  these  latter  days  here  induced  Columbus  in  his 
journal  to  recall  how  placid  the  sea  had  been  among  those  other 
new-found  islands,  and  how  likely  it  was  the  terrestial  paradise 
was  in  that  region,  as  theologians  and  learned  philosophers  had 
supposed.  From  these  thoughts  he  was  aroused  by  a  boat  from 
shore  with  a  notary  on  board,  and  Columbus,  after  completing 
his  entertainment  of  the  visitors,  was  asked  to  show  his  royal 
commission.  He  records  his  belief  that  this  was  done  to  give 
the  Portuguese  an  opportunity  of  retreating  from  their  belliger 
ent  attitude.  At  all  events  it  had  that  effect,  and  the  Span 
iards  who  had  been  restrained  were  at  once  released.  It  is  sur 
mised  that  the  conduct  of  Casteiieda  was  in  conformity  with 
instructions  from  Lisbon,  to  detain  Columbus  should  he  find  his 
way  to  any  dependency  of  the  Portuguese  crown. 


240  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

On  Sunday,  the  24th,  the  ship  again  put  out  to  sea;  on 
1493  Feb-  Wednesday,  they  encountered  another  gale  ;  and  on 
ruary24.  foe  following  Sunday,  they  were  again  in  such  peril 
that  they  made  new  vows.  At  daylight  the  next  day,  some 
land  which  they  had  seen  in  the  night,  not  without 
gloomy  apprehension  of  being  driven  upon  it,  proved 
to  be  the  rock  of  Cintra.  The  mouth  of  the  Tagus  was  before 
Rock  of  cin-  them,  and  the  people  of  the  adjacent  town,  observing 
traseen.  ^he  peril  of  the  strange  ship,  offered  prayers  for  its 
safety.  The  entrance  of  the  river  was  safely  made  and  the 
intheTa-  multitude  welcomed  them.  Up  the  Tagus  they  went 
gua-  to  Rastelo,  and  anchored  at  about  three  o'clock  in 

the  afternoon.  Here  Columbus  learned  that  the  wintry  rough 
ness  which  he  had  recently  experienced  was  but  a  part  of  the 
general  severity  of  the  season.  From  this  place  he  dispatched 
a  messenger  to  Spain  to  convey  the  news  of  his  arrival  to  his 
sovereigns,  and  at  the  same  time  he  sent  a  letter  to  the 

Sends  letter     ,  .  „    -^  ,       ,  .  .  . 

to  the  king  king  ot  .rortugal,  then  sojourning  nine  leagues  away. 
He  explained  in  it  how  he  had  asked  the  hospitality 
of  a  Portuguese  port,  because  the  Spanish  sovereigns  had  di 
rected  him  to  do  so,  if  he  needed  supplies.  He  further  informed 
the  king  that  he  had  come  from  the  "  Indies,"  which  he  had 
reached  by  sailing  west.  He  hoped  he  would  be  allowed  to 
bring  his  caravel  to  Lisbon,  to  be  more  secure  ;  for  rumors  of  a 
lading  of  gold  might  incite  reckless  persons,  in  so  lonely  a  place 
as  he  then  lay,  to  deeds  of  violence. 

The  Historic  says  that  Columbus  had  determined  beforehand 
Name  of  *°  ca^  whatever  land  he  should  discover,  India,  be 
cause  he  thought  India  was  a  name  to  suggest  riches, 
and  to  invite  encouragement  for  his  project. 

While  this  letter  to  the  Portuguese  king  was  in  transit,  the 
attempt  was  made  by  certain  officers  of  the  Portuguese  navy  in 
the  port  of  Rastelo  to  induce  Columbus  to  leave  his  ship  and 
give  an  account  of  himself ;  but  he  would  make  no  compromise 
of  the  dignity  of  a  Castilian  admiral.  When  his  resentment 
was  known  and  his  commission  was  shown,  the  Portuguese  offi 
cers  changed  their  policy  to  one  of  courtesy. 

The  next  day,  and  on  the  one  following,  the  news  of  his  arrival 
being  spread  about,  a  vast  multitude  came  in  boats  from  all 
parts  to  see  him  and  his  Indians. 


THE  ISLANDS  AND   THE  RETURN    VOYAGE.        241 

On  the  third  day,  a  royal  messenger  brought  an  invitation 
from  the  king  to  come  and  visit  the  court,  which  Co-  1493 
lumbus,    not    without    apprehension,    accepted.      The   March8- 
king's  steward  had  been  sent  to  accompany  him  and  provide  for 
his  entertainment  on  the  way.     On  the  night  of  the 
following  day,  he  reached  Val  do  Paraiso,  where  the  visit?the8 
king  was.     This  spot  was  nine  leagues  from  Lisbon, 
and  it  was  supposed  that  his  reception  was  not   held  in  that 
city  because  a  pest  was   raging  there.     A  royal  greeting  was 
given  to  him.     The  king  affected  to  believe  that  the  voyage  of 
Columbus  was  made  to  regions  which  the  Portuguese  had  been 
allowed  to  occupy  by  a  convention  agreed  upon  with  Spain  in 
1479.    The  Admiral  undeceived  him,  and  showed  the  king  that 
his  ships  had  not  been  near  Guinea. 

We  have  another  account  of  this  interview  at  Val  do  Paraiso, 
in  the  pages  of  the  Portuguese  historian,  Barros,  tinged,  doubt 
less,  with  something  of  pique  and  prejudice,  because  the  profit 
of  the  voyage  had  not  been  for  the  benefit  of  Portugal.  That 
historian  charges  Columbus  with  extravagance,  and  even  inso 
lence,  in  his  language  to  the  king.  He  says  that  Columbus 
chided  the  monarch  for  the  faithlessness  that  had  lost  him  such 
an  empire.  He  is  represented  as  launching  these  rebukes  so 
vehemently  that  the  attending  nobles  were  provoked  to  a  degree 
which  prompted  whispers  of  assassination.  That  Columbus 
found  his  first  harbor  in,  the  Tagus  has  given  other  of  the  older 
Portuguese  writers,  like  Faria  y  Sousa,  in  his  Europa  Portu- 
guesa,  and  Vasconcelles  and  Resende,  in  their  lives  of  Joao  II., 
occasion  to  represent  that  his  entering  it  was  not  so  much  in 
duced  by  stress  of  weather  as  to  seek  a  triumph  over  the  Por 
tuguese  king  in  the  first  flush  of  the  news.  It  is  also  said  that 
the  resolution  was  formed  by  the  king  to  avail  himself  of  the 
knowledge  of  two  Portuguese  who  were  found  among  Colum- 
bus's  men.  With  their  aid  he  proposed  to  send  an  armed  expe 
dition  to  take  possession  of  the  new-found  regions  before  Co 
lumbus  could  fit  out  a  fleet  for  a  second  voyage.  Francisco  de 
Almeida  was  even  selected,  according  to  the  report,  to  command 
this  force.  We  hear,  however,  nothing  more  of  it,  and  the 
Bull  of  Demarcation  put  an  end  to  all  such  rivalries. 

If,  on  the  contrary,  we  may  believe  Columbus  himself,  in  a 
letter  which  he  subsequently  wrote,  he  did  not  escape  being  sus- 


242  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

pected  in  Spain  of  having  thus  put  himself  in  the  power  of  the 
Portuguese  in  order  to  surrender  the  Indies  to  them. 

Spending  Sunday  at  court,  Columbus  departed  on  Monday, 
1493.  March  March  11,  having  first  dispatched  messages  to  the 
iis  leaver"  King  and  Queen  of  Spain.  An  escort  of  knights  was 
the  court.  provided  for  him,  and  taking  the  monastery  of  Villa- 
franca  on  his  way,  he  kissed  the  hand  of  the  Portuguese  queen, 
who  was  there  lodging,  and  journeying  on,  arrived  at  his  car- 
saiis  from  avel  on  Tuesday  night.  The  next  day  he  put  to  sea, 
the  Tagus.  an(j  on  Thursday  morning  was  off  Cape  St.  Vincent. 
The  next  morning  they  were  off  the  island  of  Saltes,  and  cross 
ing  bar  with  the  flood,  he  anchored  on  March  15, 1493, 
Paios,  March  not  far  from  noon,  where  he  had  unmoored  the  "  Santa 

15,1493.  ,.-       .     „  . 

Maria     over  seven  months  before. 

"  I  made  the  passage  thither  in  seventy-one  days,"  he  says  in 
his  published  letter ;  "  and  back  in  forty-eight,  during  thirteen 
of  which  number  I  was  driven  about  by  storms.." 

The  "  Pinta,"  which  had  parted  company  with  the  Admiral  on 
the  14th  of  February,  had  been  driven  by  the  gale 
ta's"  ex-  into  Bayona,  a  port  of  Gallicia,  in  the  northwest  cor 
ner  of  Spain,  whence  Pinzon,  its  commander,  had  dis 
patched  a  messenger  to  give  information  of  his  arrival  and  of  his 
intended  visit  to  the  Court.  A  royal  order  peremptorily  stayed, 
however,  his  projected  visit,  and  left  the  first  announcement  of 
the  news  to  be  proclaimed  by  Columbus  himself.  This  is  the 
story  which  later  writers  have  borrowed  from  the  Historic. 

Oviedo  tells  us  that  the  "  Pinta  "  put  to  sea  again  from  the 
she  reaches  Gallician  harbor,  and  entered  the  port  of  Palos  on  the 
same  day  with  Columbus,  but  her  commander,  fearing 
arrest  or  other  unpleasantness,  kept  himself  concealed  till  Co- 
Death  of  lumbus  had  started  for  Barcelona.  Not  many  days  later 
Pinzon  died  in  his  own  house  in  Palos.  Las  Casas 
would  have  us  believe  that  his  death  arose  from  mortification 
at  the  displeasure  of  his  sovereigns  ;  but  Harrisse  points  out 
that  when  Charles  V.  bestowed  a  coat-armor  on  the  family,  he 
recognized  his  merit  as  the  discoverer  of  Espanola.  There  is 
little  trustworthy  information  on  the  matter,  and  Muiioz,  whose 
lack  of  knowledge  prompts  inferences  on  his  part,  represents 
that  it  was  Pinzon's  request  to  explain  his  desertion  of  Colum 
bus,  which  was  neglected  by  the  Court,  and  impressed  him  witk 
the  royal  displeasure. 


CHAPTER  XL 

COLUMBUS   IN   SPAIN   AGAIN ;   MARCH   TO    SEPTEMBER,  1493. 

PETER  MARTYR  tells  us  of  the  common  ignorance  and  dread 
pervading  the  ordinary  ranks  of  society,  before  and  during  the 
absence  of  Columbus,  in  respect  to  all  that  part  of  the  earth's 
circumference  which  the  sun  looked  upon  beyond  Gades,  till  it 
again  cast  its  rays  upon  the  Golden  Chersonesus.  During  this 
absence  from  the  known  and  habitable  regions  of  the  globe, 
that  orb  was  thought  to  sweep  over  the  ominous  and  foreboding 
Sea  of  Darkness.  No  one  could  tell  how  wide  that  sea  was.  The 
learned  disagreed  in  their  estimates.  A  conception,  far  under 
the  actual  condition,  had  played  no  small  part  in  making  the 
voyage  of  Columbus  possible.  Men  possessed  legends  of  its 
mysteries.  Fables  of  its  many  islands  were  repeated  ;  but  no 
one  then  living  was  credibly  thought  to  have  tested  its  glooms 
except  by  sailing  a  little  beyond  the  outermost  of  the  Azores. 

It  calls  for  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  picture  the  public 
sentiment  in  little  Palos  during  the  months  of  anxiety 
which  many  households  had  endured  since  that  August  aroused  at 
morning,  when  in  its  dim  light  Columbus,  the  Pinzons,   of  coium- 
and  all  their  companions  had  been  wafted  gently  out 
to  sea  by  the  current  and  the  breeze.     The  winter  had  been 
unusually  savage  and  weird.     The  navigators  to  the  Atlantic 
islands  had  reported  rough  passages,  and  the  ocean  had  broken 
wildly  for  long  intervals  along  the  rocks  and  sands  of  the  penin 
sular  shores.    It  is  a  natural  movement  of  the  mind  to  wrap  the 
absent  in  the  gloom  of  the  present  hour  ;  and  while  Columbus 
had  been  passing  along  the  gentle  waters  of  the  new  archi 
pelago,  his  actual  experiences  had  been  in  strange  contrast  to 
the  turmoil  of  the  sea  as  it  washed  the  European  shores.     He 
had  indeed  suffered  on    his  return   voyage  the   full  tumultu- 
ousness  of  the  elements,  and  we  can  hardly  fail  to  recognize  the 
disquiet  of  mind  and  falling  of  heart  which  those  savage  gales 


244  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

must  have  given  to  the  kin  and  friends  of  the  untraceable  wan 
derers. 

The  stories,  then,  which  we  have  of  the  thanksgiving  and 
jubilation  of  the  people  of  Palos,  when  the  "Nina"  was  descried 
passing  the  bar  of  the  river,  fall  readily  among  the  accepted 
truths  of  history.  We  can  imagine  how  despondency  vanished 
amid  the  acclaims  of  exultation ;  how  multitudes  hung  upon  the 
words  of  strange  revelations ;  how  the  gaping  populace  won 
dered  at  the  bedecked  Indians;  and  how  throngs  of  people 
opened  a  way  that  Columbus  might  lead  the  votive  procession 
to  the  church.  The  canonizers  of  course  read  between  the  lines 
of  the  records  that  it  was  to  the  Church  of  Rabida  that  Colum 
bus  with  his  men  now  betook  themselves.  It  matters  little. 

There  was  much  to  mar  the  delight  of  some  in  the  house 
holds.  Comforting  reports  must  be  told  of  those  who  were 
left  at  La  Navidad.  No  one  had  died,  unless  the  gale  had  sub 
merged  the  "  Pinta  "  and  her  crew.  She  had  not  been  seen 
since  the  "  Nina  "  parted  with  her  in  the  gale. 

The  story  of  her  rescue  has  already  been  told.  She  entered 
the  river  before  the  rejoicings  of  the  day  were  over,  and  relieved 
the  remaining  anxiety. 

The  Spanish  Court  was  known  to  be  at  this  time  at  Bar- 
The  court  at  celona,  the  Catalan  port  on  the  Mediterranean.  Co- 
Barceiona.  lumbus's  first  impulse  was  to  proceed  thither  in  his 
caravel ;  but  his  recent  hazards  made  him  prudent,  and  so  dis 
patching  a  messenger  to  the  Court,  he  proceeded  to  Seville  to 
wait  their  majesties'  commands.  Of  the  native  prisoners  which 
he  had  brought  away,  one  had  died  at  sea,  three  were  too  sick 
to  follow  him,  and  were  left  at  Palos,  while  six  accompanied 
him  on  his  journey. 

The  messenger  with  such  startling  news  had  sped  quickly ; 
and  Columbus  did  not  wait  long  for  a  response  to  his  letter. 
The  document  (March  30)  showed  that  the  event  had 
so.  'coium-  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  Court.  The  new  do- 
monedto  main  of  the  west  dwarfed  for  a  while  the  conquests 
from  the  Moors.  There  was  great  eagerness  to  com 
plete  the  title,  and  gather  its  wealth.  Columbus  was  accord 
ingly  instructed  to  set  in  motion  at  once  measures  for  a  new 
expedition,  and  then  to  appear  at  Court  and  explain  to  the  mon- 
archs  what  action  on  their  part  was  needful.  The  demand  was 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIfr  245 

promptly  answered;  and  having  organized  the  necessary  ar 
rangements  in  Seville  for  the  preparation  of  a  fleet,  he  departed 
for  Barcelona  to  make  homage  to  his  sovereigns.  His  Indians 
accompanied  him.  Porters  bore  his  various  wonders  from  the 
new  islands.  His  story  had  preceded  him,  and  town  after  town 
vied  with  each  other  in  welcoming  him,  and  passing  him  on  to 
new  amazements  and  honors. 

By  the  middle  of  April  he  approached  Barcelona,  and  was 
met  by  throngs  of  people,  who  conducted  him  into  the 

JTJ.      T  *.  ,    .          „,      ,.          .,.  1493.    April. 

city.     His  Indians,  arrayed  in  etiective  it  not  accus-  inBarce- 
tomed  ornament  of  gold,  led  the  line.     Bearers  of  all 
fche  marvels  of  the  Indies  followed,  with  their  forty  parrots  and 
other  strange  birds  of  liveliest  plumage,  with  the  skins  of  un 
known  animals,  with  priceless  plants  that  would  now  supplant 
the  eastern  spices,  and  with  the  precious  ornaments  of  the  dusky 
kings  and  princes  whom  he  had  met.    Next,  on  horseback,  came 
Columbus    himself,    conspicuous    amid    the   mounted 
chivalry  of  Spain.     Thus  the  procession  marched  on,  th^s^er-  y 


through  crowded  streets,  amid  the  shouts  of  lookers- 
on,  to  the  alcazar  of  the  Moorish  kings  in  the  Calle  Ancha, 
at  this  time  the  residence  of  the  Bishop  of  Urgil,  where  it  is 
supposed  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  had  caused  their  thrones  to  be 
set  up,  with  a  canopy  of  brocaded  gold  drooping  about  them. 
Here  the  monarchs  awaited  the  coming  of  Columbus. 

Ferdinand,  as  the  accounts  picture  him,  was  a  man  whose 
moderate   stature   was   helped   by  his  erectness   and  KmgFerdi- 
robes  to  a  decided  dignity  of  carriage.     His  expres-  nand' 
sion  in  the  ruddy  glow  of  his  complexion,  clearness  of  eye,  and 
loftiness  of  brow,  grew  gracious  in  any  pleasurable  excitement. 
The  Queen  was  a  very  suitable  companion,  grave  and  Queen  Isa. 
graceful  in  her  demeanor.     Her  blue  eyes  and  auburn  bella- 
tresses  comported  with  her  outwardly  benign  air,  and  one  looked 
sharply  to  see  anything  of  her  firmness  and  courage  in  the  pre 
vailing  sweetness  of  her  manner.     The  heir  apparent,  Prince 
Juan,  was  seated  by  their  side.     The  dignitaries  of  the  Court 
were  grouped  about. 

Las  Casas  tells  us  how  commanding  Columbus  looked  when 
he  entered  the  room,  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  com 
pany  of  cavaliers.     When  he  approached  the  royal  before  the 
dais,  both  monarchs  rose  to  receive  him  standing  ;  and 


246  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

when  he  stooped  to  kiss  their  hands,  they  gently  and  graciously 
lifted  him,  and  made  him  sit  as  they  did.  They  then  asked  to 
be  told  of  what  he  had  seen. 

As  Columbus  proceeded  in  his  narrative,  he  pointed  out  the 
visible  objects  of  his  speech,  — the  Indians,  the  birds,  the  skins, 
the  barbaric  ornaments,  and  the  stores  of  gold.  We  are  told 
of  the  prayer  of  the  sovereigns  at  the  close,  in  which  all  joined ; 
and  of  the  chanted  Te  Deum  from  the  choir  of  the  royal  chapel, 
which  bore  the  thoughts  of  every  one,  says  the  narrator,  on  the 
wings  of  melody  to  celestial  delights.  This  ceremony  ended, 
Columbus  was  conducted  like  a  royal  guest  to  the  lodgings 
which  had  been  provided  for  him. 

It  has  been  a  question  if  the  details  of  this  reception,  which 
are  put  by  Irving  in  imaginative  fullness,  and  are  commonly 
told  on  such  a  thread  of  incidents  as  have  been  related,  are 
warranted  by  the  scant  accounts  which  are  furnished  us  in  the 
Historic  in  Las  Casas,  and  in  Peter  Martyr,  particularly  since 
the  incident  does  not  seem  to  have  made  enough  of  an  impres 
sion  at  the  time  to  have  been  noticed  at  all  in  the  Dietaria  of 
the  city,  a  record  of  events  embodying  those  of  far  inferior  inter 
est  as  we  would  now  value  them.  Mr.  George  Suinner  carefully 
scanned  this  record  many  years  ago,  and  could  find  not  the 
slightest  reference  to  the  festivities.  He  fancies  that  the  inci 
dents  in  the  mind  of  the  recorder  may  have  lost  their  signifi 
cance  through  an  Aragonese  jealousy  of  the  supremacy  of  Leon 
and  Castile. 

It  is  certainly  true  that  in  Peter  Martyr,  the  contemporary 
observer  of  this  supposed  pageantry,  there  is  nothing  to  warrant 
the  exuberance  of  later  writers.  Martyr  simply  says  that  Co 
lumbus  was  allowed  to  sit  in  the  sovereigns'  presence. 

Whatever  the  fact  as  to  details,  it  seems  quite  evident  that 
this  season  at  Barcelona  made  the  only  unalloyed  days  of  happi 
ness,  freed  of  anxiety,  which  Columbus  ever  experienced.  He 
was  observed  of  all,  and  everybody  was  complacent  to  him.  His 
will  was  apparently  law  to  King  and  subject.  Las  Casas  tells 
us  that  he  passed  among  the  admiring  throngs  with  his  face 
wreathed  with  smiles  of  content.  An  equal  complacency  of 
delight  and  expectation  settled  upon  all  with  whom  he  talked  of 
the  wonders  of  the  land  which  he  had  found.  They  dreamed 
as  he  did  of  entering  into  golden  cities  with  their  hundred 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  247 

bridges,  that  might  cause  new  exultations,  to  which  the  present 
were  as  nothing.  It  was  a  fatal  lure  to  the  proud  Spanish  na 
ture,  and  no  one  was  doomed  to  expiate  the  folly  of  the  delusion 
more  poignantly  than  Columbus  himself. 

Now  that  India  had  been  found  by  the  west,  as  was  believed, 
and  Barcelona  was  very  likely  palpitating  with  the  Spreadof 
thought,  the  news  spread  in  every  direction.     What  thenews- 
were  the  discoveries  of  the  Phoenicians  to  this  ?     What  ques 
tions  of  ethnology,  language,  species,  migrations,  phenomena  of 
all  sorts,  in  man  and  in  the  natural  world,  were  pressing  upon 
the  mind,  as  the  results  were  considered  ?    Were  not  these  par 
rots  which  Columbus  had  exhibited  such  as  Pliny  tells  us  are 
in  Asia  ? 

The  great  event  had  fallen  in  the  midst  of  geographical  de 
velopment,  and  was  understood  at  last.  Marco  Polo  and  the 
others  had  told  their  marvels  of  the  east.  The  navigators  of 
Prince  Henry  had  found  new  wonders  011  the  sea.  Regiomon- 
tanus,  Behaim,  and  Toscanelli  had  not  communed  in  vain  with 
cosmographical  problems.  Even  errors  had  been  stepping- 
stones  ;  as  when  the  belief  in  the  easterly  over-extension  of 
Asia  had  pictured  it  near  enough  in  the  west  to  convince  men 
that  the  hazard  of  the  Sea  of  Darkness  was  not  so  great  after 
all. 

Spain  was  then  the  centre  of  much  activity  of  mind.     "  I 
am  here,"  records  Peter  Martj^r,  "  at  the  source  of  this 
welcome  intelligence  from  the  new  found  lands,  and  tyr  records 
as  the  historian   of  such  events,  I  may  hope  to  go 
down  to  posterity  as  their  recorder."     We  must  remember  this 
profession  when  we  try  to  account  for  his  meagre  record  of  the 
reception  at  Barcelona. 

That  part  of  the  letter  of  Peter  Martyr,  dated  at  Barcelona, 
on  the  ides  of  May,  1493,  which  conveyed  to  his  correspondent 
the  first  tidings  of  Columbus's  return,  is  in  these  words,  as  trans 
lated  by  Harrisse  :  "  A  certain  Christopher  Colonus,  a  Ligurian, 
returned  from  the  antipodes.  He  had  obtained  for  that  purpose 
three  ships  from  my  sovereigns,  with  much  difficulty,  because 
the  ideas  which  he  expressed  were  considered  extravagant.  He 
came  back  and  brought  specimens  of  many  precious  things,  es 
pecially  gold,  which  those  regions  naturally  produce."  Martyr 
also  tells  us  that  when  Pomponius  Laetus  got  such  news,  he 


248  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

could  scarcely  refrain  "  from  tears  of  joy  at  so  unlooked-for  an 
event."  "  What  more  delicious  food  for  an  ingenious  mind !  " 
said  Martyr  to  him  in  return.  "  To  talk  with  people  who  have 
seen  all  this  is  elevating  to  the  mind."  The  confidence  of  Mar 
tyr,  however,  in  the  belief  of  Columbus  that  the  true  Indies  had 
been  found  was  not  marked.  He  speaks  of  the  islands  as  ad 
jacent  to,  and  not  themselves,  the  East. 

Sebastian  Cabot  remembered  the  time  when  these  marvelous 
The  news  in  tidings  reached  the  court  of  Henry  VII.  in  London, 
England.  an(j  ^Q  fefts  ug  fa^  ^  wag  accounte^  a  "  thing  more 

divine  than  human." 

A  letter  which  Columbus  had  written  and  early  dispatched 
Columbia's  *°  Barcelona,  nearly  in  duplicate,  to  the  treasurers  of 
first  letter.  ^e  two  crowns  was  promptly  translated  into  Latin,  and 
was  sent  to  Italy  to  be  issued  in  numerous  editions,  to  be  copied 
in  turn  by  the  Paris  and  Antwerp  printers,  and  a  little  more 
sluggishly  by  those  of  Germany. 

There  is,  however,  singularly  little  commenting  on  these 
events  that  passed  into  print  and  has  come  down  to  us;  and 
influence  of  we  mav  we^  doubt  if  the  effect  on  the  public  mind, 
the  event.  beyond  certain  learned  circles,  was  at  all  commensurate 
with  what  we  may  now  imagine  the  recognition  of  so  important 
an  event  ought  to  have  been.  Nordenskiold,  studying  the  car 
tography  and  literature  of  the  early  discoveries  in  America  in 
his  Facsimile  Atlas,  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  "  scarcely 
any  discovery  of  importance  was  ever  received  with  so  much 
indifference,  even  in  circles  where  sufficient  genius  and  states 
manship  ought  to  have  prevailed  to  appreciate  the  changes  they 
foreshadowed  in  the  development  of  the  economical  and  polit 
ical  conditions  of  mankind." 

It  happened  on  June  19,  1493,  but  a  few  weeks  after  the 
Pope  had  made  his  first  public  recognition  of  the  dis- 

1493.    June  ,  ,         Q  .  *_  ,  i        T»         i 

19.  f  carja-  covery,  that  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  the  Papal 
Court,  Bernardin  de  Carjaval,  referred  in  an  oration 
to  "  the  unknown  lands,  lately  found,  lying  towards  the  Indies ; " 
and  at  about  the  same  time  there  was  but  a  mere  reference  to 
the  event  in  the  Los  Tratados  of  Doctor  Alonso  Ortis,  pub 
lished  at  Seville. 

While  this  strange  bruit  was  thus  spreading  more  or  less,  we 
get  some  glimpses  of  the  personal  life  of  Columbus  during  these 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  249 

days  of  his  sojourn  in  Barcelona.  We  hear  of  him  riding 
through  the  streets  on  horseback,  on  one  side  of  the  Coiumbus  iu 
King,  with  Prince  Juan  on  the  other. 

We  find  record  of  his  being  awarded  the  pension  of  thirty 
crowns,  as  the  first  discoverer  of  land,  by  virtue  of 
the  mysterious  light,  and  Irving  thinks  that  we  may 
condone  this  theft  from  the  brave  sailor  who  unques 
tionably  saw  land  the  first,  by  remembering  that  "  Columbus's 
whole  ambition  was  involved."     It  seems  to  others  that  his 
whole  character  was  involved. 

We  find  him  a  guest  at  a  banquet  given  by  Cardinal  Meii- 
doza,  and  the  well-known  story  of  his  making  an  egg  story  of  the 
stand  upright,  by  chipping  one  end  of  it,  is  associated  egg> 
with  this  merriment  of  the  table.  An  impertinent  question  of 
a  shallow  courtier  had  induced  Columbus  to  show  a  table  full  of 
guests  that  it  was  easy  enough  to  do  anything  when  the  way 
was  pointed  out.  The  story,  except  as  belonging  to  a  tradi 
tional  stock  of  anecdotes,  dating  far  back  of  Columbus,  always 
ready  for  an  application,  has  no  authority  earlier  than  Benzoni, 
and  loses  its  point  in  the  destruction  of  the  end  on  which  the 
aim  was  to  make  it  stand.  This  has  been  so  palpable  to  some 
of  the  repeaters  of  the  story  that  they  have  supposed  that  the 
feat  was  accomplished,  not  by  cracking  the  end  of  the  egg,  but 
by  using  a  quick  motion  which  broke  the  sack  which  holds  the 
yolk,  so  that  that  weightier  substance  settled  at  one  end,  and 
balanced  the  egg  in  an  upright  position. 

So  passed  the  time  with  the  new-made  hero,  in  drinking,  as 
Irving  expresses  it,  "  the  honeyed  draught  of  popularity  before 
enmity  and  detraction  had  time  to  drug  it  with  bitterness." 

We  find  the  sovereigns  bestowing  upon  him,  on  the  20th  of 
May,  a  coat  of  arms,  which  shows  a  castle  and  a  lion  1493  May 
in  the  upper  quarters,  and  in  those  below,  a  group  of  a0cofteoflve8 
golden  islands  in  a  sea  of  waves,  on  the  one  hand,  and  arms' 
the  arms  to  which  his  family  had  been  entitled,  on  the  other. 
Humboldt  speaks  of  this  archipelago  as  the  first  map  of  Amer 
ica,  but  he  apparently  knew  only  Oviedo's  description  of  the 
arms,  for  the  latter  places  the  islands  in  a  gulf  formed  by  a  main 
land,  and  in  this  fashion  they  are  grouped  in  a  blazon  of  the 
arms  which  is  preserved  at  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  at 
Paris  —  a  duplicate  being  at  Genoa.  Harrisse  says  that  this 


250 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


design  is  the  original  water-color,  made  under  Columbus' s  eye  in 
1502.  In  this  picture,  —  which  is  the  earliest  blazonry  which 
has  come  down  to  us,  —  the  other  lower  quarter  has  the  five 
golden  anchors  on  a  blue  ground,  which  it  is  claimed  was  ad- 


THE  ARMS  OF  COLUMBUS. 
[From  Oviedo's  Coronica.'] 

judged  to  Columbus  as  the  distinctive  badge  of  an  Admiral  of 
Spain.  The  personal  arms  are  relegated  to  a  minor  overlying 
shield  at  the  lower  point  of  the  escutcheon.  Oviedo  also  says 
that  trees  and  other  objects  should  be  figured  on  the  mainland. 
The  lion  and  castle  of  the  original  grant  were  simply  re 
minders  of  the  arms  of  Leon  and  Castile ;  but  Columbus  seems, 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  251 

of  his  own  motion,  so  far  as  Harrisse  can  discover,  to  have 
changed  the  blazonry  of  those  objects  in  the  drawing  of  1502 
to  agree  with  those  of  the  royal  arms.  It  was  by  the  same  ar 
rogant  license,  apparently,  that  he  introduced  later  the  conti 
nental  shore  of  the  archipelago;  and  Harrisse  can  find  no 
record  that  the  anchors  were  ever  by  any  authority  added  to  his 
blazon,  nor  that  the  professed  family  arms,  borne  in  connection, 
had  any  warrant  whatever. 

The  earliest  engraved  copy  of  the  arms  is  in  the  Historia 
General  of  Oviedo  in  1535,  where  a  profile  helmet  supports  a 
crest  made  of  a  globe  topped  by  a  cross.  In  Oviedo's  Coronica 
of  1547,  the  helmet  is  shown  in  front  view.  There  seems  to  have 
been  some  wide  discrepancies  in  the  heraldic  excursions  of  these 
early  writers.  Las  Casas,  for  instance,  puts  the  golden  lion  in 
a  silver  field,  —  when  heraldry  abhors  a  conjunction  of  metals, 
as  much  as  nature  abhors  a  vacuum.  The  discussion  of  the 
family  arms  which  were  added  by  Columbus  to  the  escutcheon 
made  a  significant  part  of  the  arguments  in  the  suit,  many  years 
later,  of  Baldassare  (Balthazar)  Colombo  to  possess  the  Admi 
ral's  dignities  :  and  as  Harrisse  points  out,  the  emblem  of  those 
Italian  Colombos  of  any  pretensions  to  nobility  was  invariably  a 
dove  of  some  kind,  —  a  device  quite  distinct  from  those  designa 
ted  by  Columbus.  This  assumption  of  family  arms  by  Columbus 
is  held  by  Harrisse  to  be  simply  a  concession  to  the  prejudices 
of  his  period,  and  to  the  exigencies  of  his  new  position. 

The  arms  have  been  changed  under  the  dukes  of  Veragua  to 
show  silver-capped  waves  in  the  sea,  while  a  globe  surmounted 
by  a  cross  is  placed  in  the  midst  of  a  gulf  containing  only  five 
islands. 

There  is  another  later  accompaniment  of  the  arms,  of  which 
the  origin  has  escaped  all  search.     It  is  far  more  familiar  than 
the  escutcheon,  on  which  it  plays  the  part  of  a  motto.   His  aiieged 
It  sometimes  represents  that  Columbus  found  for  the  motto* 
allied  crowns  a  new  world,  and  at  other  times  that  he  gave 
one  to  them. 

For  Castilla  £  por  Leon 
Nuevo  Mundo  hal!6  Colon. 

A  Castilla,  y  a  Leon 
Nuevo  Mundo  dk>  Colon. 

Oviedo  is  the  earliest  to  mention  this  distich  in  1535.     It  is 


252  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

given  in  the  Historie,  not  as  a  motto  of  the  arms,  but  as  an 
inscription  placed  by  the  king  on  the  tomb  of  Columbus 
some  years  after  his  death.  If  this  is  true,'  it  does  away  with 
the  claims  of  Gomara  that  Columbus  himself  added  it  to  his 
arms. 

But  diplomacy  had  its  part  to  play  in  these  events.  As  the 
Diplomacy  Christian  world  at  that  time  recognized  the  rights  of 
of  plnfar-1  *^e  Holy  Father  to  confirm  any  trespass  on  the  pos 
sessions  of  the  heathen,  there  was  a  prompt  effort  on 
the  part  of  Ferdinand  to  bring  the  matter  to  the  attention  of 
the  Pope.  As  early  as  1438,  bulls  of  Martin  V.  and  Eugene 
IV.  had  permitted  the  Spaniards  to  sail  west  and  the  Portuguese 
south ;  and  a  confirmation  of  the  same  had  been  made  by  Pope 
Nicholas  the  Fifth.  In  1479,  the  rival  crowns  of  Portugal  and 
Spain  had  agreed  to  respect  their  mutual  rights  under  these 
papal  decisions. 

The  messengers  whom  Ferdinand  sent  to  Rome  were  in 
structed  to  intimate  that  the  actual  possession  which  had  been 
made  in  their  behalf  of  these  new  regions  did  not  require  papal 
sanction,  as  they  had  met  there  no  Christian  occupants ;  but  that 
as  dutiful  children  of  the  church  it  would  be  grateful  to  re 
ceive  such  a  benediction  on  their  energies  for  the  faith  as  a  con 
firmatory  bull  would  imply.  Ferdinand  had  too  much  of  wili- 
ness  in  his  own  nature,  and  the  practice  of  it  was  too  much  a 
part  of  the  epoch,  wholly  to  trust  a  man  so  notoriously  perverse 
and  obstinate  as  Alexander  VI.  was.  Though  Munoz  calls 
Alexander  the  friend  of  Ferdinand,  and  though  the  Pope  was 
by  birth  an  Aragonese,  experience  had  shown  that  there  was 
no  certainty  of  his  support  in  a  matter  affecting  the  interest 
of  Spain. 

A  folio  printed  leaf  in  Gothic  characters,  of  which  the  single 

copy  sold  in  London  in  1854  is  said  to  be  the  only 

3.  The  BUU  one   known    to   bibliographers,  made    public  to   the 


world  the  famous  Bull  of  Demarcation  of  Alexander 
VI.,  bearing  date  May  3,  1493.  If  one  would  believe  Hak- 
luyt,  the  Pope  had  been  induced  to  do  this  act  by  his  own 
option,  rather  than  at  the  intercession  of  the  Spanish  mon- 
archs.  Under  it,  and  a  second  bull  of  the  day  following,  Spain 
was  entitled  to  possess,  "  on  condition  of  planting  the  Catholic 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN. 


253 


POPE   ALEXANDER    VI. 

[A  bust  in  the  Berlin  Museum.] 


254  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

faith,"  all  lands  not  already  occupied  by  Christian  powers,  west 
of  a  meridian  drawn  one  hundred  leagues  west  of  the  Azores 
and  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  evidently  on  the  supposition  that 
these  two  groups  were  in  the  same  longitude,  the  fact  being  that 
the  most  westerly  of  the  southern,  and  the  most  easterly  of  the 
northern,  group  possessed  nearly  the  same  meridian.  Though 
Portugal  was  not  mentioned  in  describing  this  line,  it  was  un 
derstood  that  there  was  reserved  to  her  the  same  privilege 
easterly. 

There  was  not  as  yet  any  consideration  given  to  the  division 
which  this  great  circle  meridian  was  likely  to  make  on  the  other 
side  of  the  globe,  where  Portugal  was  yet  to  be  most  interested. 
The  Cape  of  Good  Hope  had  not  then  been  doubled,  and  the 
present  effect  of  the  division  was  to  confine  the  Portuguese  to 
an  exploration  of  the  western  African  coast  and  to  adjacent 
islands.  It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  placing  of  this  line 
the  magnetic  phenomena  which  Columbus  had  observed  on  his 
recent  voyage  were  not  forgotten,  if  the  coincidence  can  be  so 
interpreted.  Humboldt  suggests  that  it  can. 

To  make  a  physical  limit  serve  a  political  one  was  an  obvious 
Line  of  no  recourse  at  a  time  when  the  line  of  no  variation  was 
variation.  thought  to  be  unique  and  of  a  true  north  and  south 
direction ;  but  within  a  century  the  observers  found  three  other 
lines,  as  Acosta  tells  us  in  his  Historia  Natural  de  las  Indias, 
in  1589  ;  and  there  proved  to  be  a  persistent  migration  of  these 
lines,  all  little  suited  to  terrestrial  demarcations.  Roselly  de  Lor- 
gues  and  the  canonizers,  however,  having  given  to  Columbus  the 
planning  of  the  line  in  his  cell  at  Rabida,  think,  with  a  surpris 
ing  prescience  on  his  part,  and  with  a  very  convenient  oblivi- 
ousness  on  their  part,  that  he  had  chosen  "  precisely  the  only 
point  of  our  planet  which  science  would  choose  in  our  day,  — 
a  mysterious  demarcation  made  by  its  omnipotent  Creator," 
in  sovereign  disregard,  unfortunately,  of  the  laws  of  his  own 
universe  ! 

Meanwhile  there  were  movements  in  Portugal  which  Ferdi 
nand  had  not  failed  to  notice.  An  ambassador  had 

Suspicious  .  .  .  ,  . 

movements     come  from  its  king,  asking  permission  to  buy  certain 

articles  of  prohibited  exportation  for  use  on  an  African 

expedition  which  the  Portuguese  were  fitting  out.     Ferdinand 

suspected  that  the  true  purpose  of  this  armament  was  to  seize 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  255 

the  new  islands,  under  a  pretense  as  dishonorable  as  that  which 
covered  the  ostensible  voyage  to  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  by 
whose  exposure  Columbus  had  been  driven  into  Spain.  The 
Spanish  monarch  was  alert  enough  to  get  quite  beforehand  with 
his  royal  brother.  Before  the  ambassador  of  which  mention 
has  been  made  had  come  to  the  Spanish  Court,  Ferdinand  had 
dispatched  Lope  de  Herrera  to  Lisbon,  armed  with  a  concilia 
tory  and  a  denunciatory  letter,  to  use  one  or  the  other,  as  he 
might  find  the  conditions  demanded.  The  Portuguese  historian 
Resende  tells  us  that  Joao,  in  order  to  give  a  wrong  scent,  had 
openly  bestowed  largesses  on  some  and  had  secretly  suborned 
other  members  of  Ferdinand's  cabinet,  so  that  he  did  not  lack 
for  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  intentions  from  the  latter  mem 
bers.  He  and  his  ambassadors  were  accordingly  found  by  Fer 
dinand  to  be  inexplicably  prepared  at  every  new  turn  of  the 
negotiations. 

In  this  way  Joao  had  been  informed  of  the  double  mission  of 
Herrera,  and  could  avoid  the  issue  with  him,  while  he  sent  his 
own  ambassadors  to  Spain,  to  promise  that,  pending  their  nego 
tiations,  no  vessel  should  sail  on  any  voyage  of  discovery  for 
sixty  days.  They  were  also  to  propose  that  instead  of  the  papal 
line,  one  should  be  drawn  due  west  from  the  Canaries,  giving 
all  new  discoveries  north  to  the  Spaniards,  and  all  south  to  the 
Portuguese.  This  new  move  Ferdinand  turned  to  his  own  advan 
tage,  for  it  gave  him  the  opportunity  to  enter  upon  a  course  of 
diplomacy  which  he  could  extend  long  enough  to  allow  Columbus 
to  get  off  with  a  new  armament.  He  then  sent  a  fresh  embassy, 
with  instructions  to  move  slowly  and  protract  the  discussion, 
but  to  resort,  when  compelled,  to  a  proposition  for  arbitration. 
Joao  was  foiled  and  he  knew  it.  "  These  ambassadors,"  he  said, 
"  have  no  feet  to  hurry  and  no  head  to  propound."  The  Span 
ish  game  was  the  best  played,  and  the  Portuguese  king  grew 
fretful  under  it,  and  intimated  sometimes  a  purpose  to  proceed 
to  violence,  but  he  was  restrained  by  a  better  wisdom.  We  de 
pend  mainly  upon  the  Portuguese  historians  for  understanding 
these  complications,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  time  the 
archives  of  the  Vatican  may  reveal  the  substance  of  these  tri 
partite  negotiations  of  the  papal  court  and  the  two  crowns. 

Before   Columbus  had  left  Barcelona,  a  large  gratuity  had 


256  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

been  awarded  to  him  by  his  sovereigns ;  an  order  had  been 
issued  commanding  free  lodgings  to  be  given  to  him  and  his 
followers,  wherever  he  went,  and  the  original  stipulations  as  to 
1493  May  honors  and  authority,  made  by  the  sovereigns  at 
coZSus  Santa  Fe,  had  been  confirmed  (May  28).  A  royal 
confirmed.  geaj  wag  now  confi(je(i  to  his  keeping,  to  be  set  to  let 
ters  patent,  and  to  commissions  that  it  might  be  found  necessary 
to  issue.  It  might  be  used  even  in  appointing  a  deputy,  to  act 
in  the  absence  of  Columbus.  His  appointments  were  to  hold 
during  the  royal  pleasure.  His  own  power  was  defined  at  the 
same  time,  and  in  particular  to  hold  command  over  the  entire 
expedition,  and  to  conduct  its  future  government  and  explora- 
May  28.  Co-  tions.  He  left  Barcelona,  after  leavetakings,  on  May 
le^esBar-  28 ;  and  his  instructions,  as  printed  by  Navarrete,  were 
signed  the  next  day.  It  is  not  unlikely  they  were 
based  on  suggestions  of  Columbus  made  in  a  letter,  without 
June,  in  date,  which  has  recently  been  printed  in  the  Oartas 
Sevilie-  de  Indias  (1877).  Early  in  June,  he  was  in  Seville, 
and  soon  after  he  was  joined  by  Juan  Rodriguez  de  Fonseca, 
archdeacon  of  Seville,  who,  as  representative  of  the 
Crown,  had  been  made  the  chief  director  of  the  prepa 
rations.  It  is  claimed  by  Harrisse  that  this  priest  has  been 
painted  by  the  biographers  of  Columbus  much  blacker  than  he 
really  was,  on  the  strength  of  the  objurgations  which  the  His- 
torie  bestows  upon  him.  Las  Casas  calls  him  worldly ;  and  he 
deserves  the  epithet  if  a  dominating  career  of  thirty  years  in 
controlling  the  affairs  of  the  Indies  is  any  evidence  of  fitness  in 
such  matters.  His  position  placed  him  where  he  had  purposes 
to  thwart  as  well  as  projects  to  foster,  and  the  record  of  this 
age  of  discovery  is  not  without  many  proofs  of  selfish  and  dis 
honorable  motives,  which  Fonseca  might  be  called  upon  to  re 
press.  That  his  discrimination  was  not  always  clear-sighted 
may  be  expected ;  that  he  was  sometimes  perfidious  may  be 
true,  but  he  was  dealing  mainly  with  those  who  could  be  perfid 
ious  also.  That  he  abused  his  authority  might  also  go  without 
dispute  ;  but  so  did  Columbus  and  the  rest.  In  the  game  of 
diamond-cut-diamond,  it  is  not  always  just  to  single  out  a  single 
victim  for  condemnation,  as  is  done  by  Irving  and  the  canon- 
izers. 

It  was  while  at  Seville,  engaged  in  this  work  of  preparation, 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  257 

that  Fonseca  sought  to  check  the  demands  of  Columbus  as  re 
spects  the  number  of  his  personal  servitors.  That  these  de 
mands  were  immoderate,  the  character  of  Columbus,  never  cau 
tious  under  incitement,  warrants  us  in  believing ;  and  that  the 
official  guardian  of  the  royal  treasury  should  have  views  of  his 
own  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  The  story  goes  that  the  sover 
eigns  forced  Fonseca  to  yield,  and  that  this  was  the  offense  of 
Columbus  which  could  neither  be  forgotten  nor  forgiven  by 
Fonseca,  and  for  which  severities  were  visited  upon  him  and  his 
heirs  in  the  years  to  come.  Irving  is  confident  that  Fonseca 
has  escaped  the  condemnation  which  Spanish  writers  would 
willingly  have  put  upon  him,  for  fear  of  the  ecclesiastical  cen 
sors  of  the  press. 

The  measures  which  were  now  taken  in  accordance  with  the 
instructions  given  to  Columbus,  already  referred  to,  to  regu 
late  the  commerce  of  the  Indies,  with  a  custom  house  at  Cadiz 
and  a  corresponding  one  in  Espanola  under  the  control  of  the 
Admiral,  ripened  in  time  into  what  was  known  as  the  Council  for 
Council  for  the  Indies.    It  had  been  early  determined  thelndies- 
(May  23)  to  control  all  emigration  to  the  new  regions,  and  no 
one  was  allowed  to  trade  thither  except  under  license  from  the 
monarchs,  Columbus,  or  Fonseca. 

A  royal  order  had  put  all  ships  and  appurtenances  in  the 
ports  of  Andalusia  at  the  demand  of  Fonseca  and  New  fleet 
Columbus,  for  a  reasonable  compensation,  and  com-  eiuiPPed- 
pelled  all  persons  required  for  the  service  to  embark  in  it  on 
suitable  pay.  Two  thirds  of  the  ecclesiastical  tithes,  the  se 
questered  property  of  banished  Jews,  and  other  resources  were 
set  apart  to  meet  these  expenses,  and  the  treasurer  was  author 
ized  to  contract  a  loan,  if  necessary.  To  eke  out  the  resources, 
this  last  was  resorted  to,  and  5,000,000  maravedis  were  borrowed 
from  the  Duke  of  Medina-Sidonia.  All  the  transactions  relating 
to  the  procuring  and  dispensing  of  moneys  had  been  confided 
to  a  treasurer,  Francisco  Pinelo  ;  with  the  aid  of  an  accountant, 
Juan  de  Soria.  Everything  was  hurriedly  gathered  for  the 
armament,  for  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  prepa 
rations  should  move  faster  than  the  watching  diplomacy. 

Artillery  which  had  been  in  use  on  shipboard  for  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half  was  speedily  amassed.  The  arquebuse, 
however,  had  not  altogether  been  supplanted  by  the  matchlock, 


258 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


and  was  yet  preferred  in  some  hands  for  its  lightness.     Mili 
tary  stores  which  had  been  left  over  from  the  Moorish  war  and 
were  now  housed 
in  the  Alhambra, 
at  this  time  con 
verted   into    an 
arsenal,  were  op 
portunely    drawn 
upon. 

The  labor  of  an 
intermediary  in 
much  of  this  prep 
aration  fell  upon 

Beradi  and       Juonato 

Vespucius.  Beradi, 
a  Florentine  mer 
chant  then  settled 
in  Seville,  and  it 
is  interesting  to 
know  that  Amer- 
i  c  u  s  Vespucius, 
then  a  mature 
man  of  two  and 
forty,  was  en 
gaged  under  Be 
radi  in  this  work  5)te(Seu(enjiencftfTei| 

of  preparation. 
From  the  fact 

"^^mmmm^**** 

turists    were    or 

dered  to  be  in  &*mit  mongttrif?  jumgwl 

,  Seville  &tt$m$&ymmmitdmit$n. 

on  June  3£  fl  <*Df( 

20,  and   to   hold  CROSSBOW-MAKER. 

themselves  in  [From  Jost  Amman's  Beschreibung,  1586.] 

readiness  to  embark,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  sailing  of  some 
portion  of  the  fleet  may  at  that  time  have  been  expected  at  a 
date  not  much  later. 

The  interest  of  Isabella  in  the  new  expedition  was  almost 


1493. 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  259 

wholly  on  its  emotional  and  intellectual   side.     She  had  been 
greatly  engrossed  with  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  In-  igabeiia's 
dians  whom  Columbus  had  taken  to  Barcelona.    Their  interest- 
baptism  had  taken  place  with  great  state  and  ceremony,  the 
King,  Queen,  and  Prince  Juan  officiating  as  sponsors.   Indiana  bap- 
It  was  intended  that  they  should  reembark  with  the  tized- 
new  expedition.    Prince  Juan,  however,  picked  out  one  of  these 
Indians  for  his  personal  service,  and  when  the  fellow  died,  two 
years  later,  it  was  a  source  of  gratification,  as  Herrera  tells  us, 
that  at  last  one  of  his  race  had  entered  the  gates  of  heaven  ! 
Only  four  of  the  six  ever  reached  their  native  country.     We 
know  nothing  of  the  fate  of  those  left  sick  at  Palos. 

The  Pope,  to  further  all  methods  for  the  extension  of  the 
faith,  had   commissioned    (June    24)    a  Benedictine 
monk,  Bernardo  Buil  (Boyle),  of  Catalonia,  to  be  his 
apostolic  vicar  in  the  new  world,  and  this  priest  was  to  be  ac 
companied  by  eleven  brothers  of  the  order.     The  Queen  in 
trusted  to  them  the  sacred  vessels  and  vestments  from  her  own 
altar.     The  instructions  which  Columbus  received  were  to  deal 
lovingly  with  the  poor  natives.     We  shall  see  how  faithful  he 
was  to  the  behest. 

Isabella's  musings  were  not,  however,  all  so  piously  confined. 
She  wrote  to  Columbus  from  Segovia  in  August,  requiring  him 
to  make  provisions  for  bringing  back  to  Spain  specimens  of 
the  peculiar  birds  of  the  new  regions,  as  indications  of  untried 
climates  and  seasons. 

Again,  in  writing  to  Columbus,  September  5,  she  urged  him 
not  to  rely  wholly  on  his  own  great  knowledge,  but  to 
take  such  a  skillful  astronomer  on  his  voyage  as  Fray  and  navlga- 
Antonio  de  Marchena,  —  the  same  whom   Columbus 
later  spoke  of  as  being  one  of  the  two  persons  who  had  never 
made  him  a  laughing-stock.     Munoz  says  the  office  of  astron 
omer  was  not  filled. 

Dealing  with  the  question  of  longitude  was  a  matter  in  which 
there  was  at  this  time  little  insight,  and  no  general  agreement. 
Columbus,  as  we  have  seen,  suspected  the  variation  of  the 
needle  might  afford  the  basis  of  a  system  ;  but  he  grew  to  appre 
hend,  as  he  tells  us  in  the  narrative  of  his  fourth  voyage,  that  the 
astronomical  method  was  the  only  infallible  one,  but  whether  his 
preference  was  for  the  opposition  of  planets,  the  occultations  of 


260 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


stars,  the  changes  in  the  moon's  declination,  or  the  comparisons 
of  Jupiter's  altitude  with  the  lunar  position,  —  all  of  which  were 
in  some  form  in 
vogue,  -  does  not 
appear ,  The 
method  by  convey 
ance  of  time,  so 
well  known  now 
in  the  use  of  chro 
nometers,  seems  to 
have  later  been 
suggested  by 
Alonso  de  Santa 
Cruz,  —  too  late 
for  the  recognition 
of  Columbus ;  but 
the  instrumental 
ity  of  water-clocks, 
sand  -  clocks,  and 
other  crude  de 
vices,  like  the  tim 
ing  of  burning 
wicks,  was  too 
uncertain  to  ob 
tain  even  tran-  _^ 
sient  sanction.  r  3*  «** 

The  astrolabe,  ©erecftffltiD  ©tort  nadj  fcfr  C0?enfur/ 

for    all     the    im-  93011  (jdlfltt  gtof?  Wt>  f Mm  93^rfaiU/ 

provements  of  Be-  ©uf/baf?  fie  fjabm  fatu}rtt  6e(rant)f/ 
haim,  was  still  an  Qftacljaucfj  barju  ^)u(^eit  ©cfjeuj?/ 

awkward     instru-  g)areptt  tcfe  ffr  ffeiffld  befc^fCU^/ 

ment  for  ascer-  ger5we  d|eu^@rAn/@ran>/rott)ff  Matt) 
tammg    latitude,  ^  -    man  We  6ftinM)n& 

especially     on     a  x-, 

rolling  P 

Astrolabe.  .,    ,° 

Or  pltCh-  THE  CLOCK-MAKER. 

ing    Ship,    and    We  [From  J°8t  Amman'8  ^chreibung,  Frankfort.] 

know  that  Vasco  da  Gama  went  on  shore  at  the  Cape  de  Verde 
Islands  to  take  observations  when  the  motion  of  the  sea  balked 
him  on  shipboard. 


COL  UMB  US  IN   SPA  IN  A  GA  IN.  26 1 

Whether  the  cross-staff  or  Jackstaff,  a  seaboard  implement 
somewhat  more  convenient  than  the  astrolabe,  was  known  to 
Columbus  is  not  very  clear,  —  probably  it  was  not ;    but  the 
navigators  that  soon  followed  him  found  it  more  man 
ageable  on  rolling  ships  than  the  older  instruments.   andJack- 
It  was  simply  a  stick,  along  which,  after  one  end  of 
it  was  placed  at  the  eye,  a  scaled  crossbar  was  pushed  until  its 
two  ends  touched,  the  lower,  the  horizon,  and  the  upper,   the 
heavenly  body  whose  altitude  was  to  be  taken.     A  scale  on  the 
stick  then  showed,  at  the  point  where   the  bar  was  left,  the 
degree  of  latitude. 

The  best  of  such  aids,  however,  did  not  conduce  to  great  ac 
curacy,  and  the  early  maps,  in  comparison  with  modern,  show 
sometimes  several  degrees  of  error  in  scaling  from  the  equator. 
An  error  once  committed  was  readily  copied,  and  different  carto 
graphical  records  put  in  service  by  the  professional  map-makers 
came  sometimes  by  a  process  of  averages  to  show  some  sur 
prising  diversities,  with  positive  errors  of  considerable  Errors  in 
extent.    The  island  of  Cuba,  for  instance,  early  found  latitude' 
place  in  the  charts  seven  and  eight  degrees  too  far  north,  with 
dependent  islands  in  equally  wrong  positions. 

As  the  preparations  went  on,  a  fleet  of  seventeen  vessels,  large 
and  small,  three  of  which  were  called  transports,  had,  according 
to  the  best  estimates,  finally  been  put  in  readiness.    Scillacio 
tells  us  that  some  of  the  smallest  had  been  constructed  of  light 
draft,   especially  for  exploring  service.     Horses  and  domestic 
animals  of  all  kinds  were  at  last  gathered  on  board. 
Every  kind  of  seed  and  agricultural  implement,  stores  veLTis660 
of  commodities  for  barter  with  the  Indians,  and  all  the 
appurtenances    of   active  life    were    accumulated.     Munoz   re 
marks  that  it  is  evident  that  sugar  cane,  rice,  and  vines  had  not 
been  discovered  or  noted  by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage,  or  we 
would  not  have  found  them  among  the  commodities  provided 
for  the  second. 

In  making  up  the  company  of  the  adventurers,  there  was  lit 
tle  need  of  active  measures  to  induce  recruits.     Many  Their  co^ 
an  Hidalgo   and  cavalier  took  service   at    their  own  panies- 
cost.     Galvano,  who  must  have  received  the  reports  by  tradi 
tion,  says  that  such  was  the  "  desire  of  travel  that  the  men  were 


262  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ready  to  leap  into  the  sea  to  swim,  if  it  had  been  possible,  into 
these  new  found  parts."  Traffic,  adventure,  luxury,  feats  of 
arms,  —  all  were  inducements  that  lured  one  individual  or  an 
other.  Some  there  were  to  make  names  for  themselves  in  their 
new  fields.  Such  was  Alonso  de  Ojeda,  a  daring  youth, 
expert  in  all  activities,  who  had  served  his  ambition  in 
the  Moorish  wars,  and  had  been  particularly  favored  by  the 
Duke  of  Medina-Celi,  the  friend  of  Columbus. 

We  find  others  whose  names  we  shall  again  encounter. 
The  younger  brother  of  Columbus,  Diego  Colon,  had  come  to 
Spain,  attracted  by  the  success  of  Christopher.  The  father  and 
LasCasas,  uncle  of  Las  Casas,  from  whose  conversations  with 
Son? La  the  Admiral  that  historian  could  profit  in  the  future, 
Cosa,  etc.  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  the  later  discoverer  of  Florida, 
Juan  de  la  Cosa,  whose  map  is  the  first  we  have  of  the  New 
World,  and  Dr.  Chanca,  a  physician  of  Seville,  who  was  pen 
sioned  by  the  Crown,  and  to  whom  we  owe  one  of  the  narratives 
of  the  voyage,  were  also  of  the  company. 

The  thousand  persons  to  which  the  expedition  had  at  first  been 
limited  became,  under  the  pressure  of  eager  cavaliers,  nearer 
1,200,  and  this  number  was  eventually  increased  by  stowaways 
1,500  souis  an(i  other  hangers-on,  till  the  number  embarked  was 
embark.  not  much  ghort  of  J^QQ  This  is  Qviedo's  statement. 

Bernaldez  and  Peter  Martyr  make  the  number  1,200,  or  there 
abouts.  Perhaps  these  were  the  ordinary  hands,  and  the  300 
more  were  officers  and  the  like,  for  the  statements  do  not  render 
it  certain  how  the  enumerations'  are  made.  So  far  as  we  know 
their  names,  but  a  single  companion  of  Columbus  in  his  first 
voyage  was  now  with  him.  The  twenty  horsemen  already  men 
tioned  are  supposed  to  be  the  only  mounted  soldiers  that  em 
barked.  Columbus  says,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  their  majesties, 
that  "  the  number  of  colonists  who  desire  to  go  thither  amounts 
to  two  thousand,"  which  would  indicate  that  a  large  number 
were  denied.  The  letter  is  undated,  and  may  not  be  of  a  date 
near  the  sailing  ;  if  it  is,  it  probably  indicates  to  some  degree  the 
number  of  persons  who  were  denied  embarkation.  As  the  day 
approached  for  the  departure  there  was  some  uneasiness  over  a 
report  of  a  Portuguese  caravel  sailing  westward  from  Madeira, 
and  it  was  proposed  to  send  some  of  the  fleet  in  advance  to  over 
take  the  vessel ;  but  after  some  diplomatic  fence  between  Ferdi- 


COLUMBUS  IN  SPAIN  AGAIN.  263 

nand  and  Joao,  the  disquiet  ended,  or  at  least  nothing  was  done 
on  either  side. 

At  one  time  Columbus  had  hoped  to  embark  on  the  15th  of 
August;  but  it  was  six  weeks  later  before  everything  was 
ready. 

While  Columbus  was  still  in  Spain,  but  before  news  of  his  purposes  and 
their  successful  issue  had  reached  Nuremberg,  a  learned  doctor,  Jerome 
Miiiizineister,  of  that  city,  had  written,  July  14,  1493,  to  King  John  of 
Portugal,  asking  him  to  heed  the  advice  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  and 
send  Martin  Behaim  on  an  expedition  to  find  land  at  the  west.  His  argu 
ments,  deduced  from  Aristotle,  Seneca,  D'Ailly  and  others,  and  fortified  by 
stories  of  drift  from  the  west  cast  upon  the  Azores,  were  precisely  what 
Toscanelli  had  used  in  1474,  and  furnish  further  evidence  of  the  opinions 
prevalent  in  learned  circles  before  Columbus  began  his  advocacy.  We 
know  that  Behaim  was  in  Nuremberg,  making  his  globe,  a  little  before  this, 
and  that  Miinzmeister  had  friendly  relations  with  him.  There  are  two 
important  inferences  from  this  letter.  One  is,  that  outside  of  a  narrow 
circle  of  local  cosmographers  and  interested  potentates,  the  return  of  Co 
lumbus  was  little  known  ;  and  the  tidings  of  it  did  not  reach  Germany  in  four 
months.  It  may  be  remembered  that  the  Nuremberg  Chronicle,  professing  to 
bring  the  world's  progress  down  to  date,  had  not  made  any  entry  about 
Columbus,  down  to  July,  1493.  The  second  inference  is,  that  Behaim,  a 
noble  and  courtier  at  the  Portuguese  Court,  had  not  known  of  the  suit  to 
the  Portuguese  king,  of  an  adventurer  like  Columbus.  However,  the 
failure  of  the  mention  of  Columbus  in  the  letter  cannot  be  deemed  an 
emphatic  proof.  The  letter  in  question  was  printed  near  the  date  of  it  at 
Lisbon,  but  only  a  single  copy  —  in  the  library  at  Evora,  in  Portugal  —  is 
now  known  ;  and  though  this  has  been  reprinted  to  answer  local  interest  of 
late  years  in  Portugal  and  the  A/ores,  it  was  not  till  Harrisse  included  it  in 
his  Discovery  of  North  America  (1892)  that  it  came  to  the  attention  of 
American  scholars. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  SECOND  VOYAGE. 
1493-1494. 

THE  last  day  in  port  was  a  season  of  solemnity  and  gratula- 
Theembar-  tion.  Coma,  a  Spaniard,  who,  if  not  an  eyewitness, 
got  his  description  from  observers,  thus  describes  the 
scene  in  a  letter  to  Scillacio  in  Pavia :  "  The  religious  rites 
usual  on  such  occasions  were  performed  by  the  sailors  ;  the  last 
embraces  were  given ;  the  ships  were  hung  with  brilliant  cloths  ; 
streamers  were  wound  in  the  rigging ;  and  the  royal  standard 
flapped  everywhere  at  the  sterns  of  the  vessels.  The  pipers  and 
harpers  held  in  mute  astonishment  the  Nereids  and  even  the 
Sirens  with  their  sweet  modulations.  The  shores  reechoed  the 
clang  of  trumpets  and  the  braying  of  clarions.  The  discharge 
of  cannon  rolled  over  the  water.  Some  Venetian  galleys  chanc 
ing  to  enter  the  harbor  joined  in  the  jubilation,  and  the  cheers 
of  united  nations  went  up  with  prayers  for  blessings  on  the  ven 
turing  crews." 

Night  followed,  calm  or  broken,  restful  or  wearisome,  as  the 
1493.  Sep-  case  might  be,  for  one  or  another,  and  when  the  day 
Th^eef'  dawned  (September  25,  1493)  the  note  of  prepara 
tion  was  everywhere  heard.  It  was  the  same  011  the 
three  great  caracks,  on  the  lesser  caravels,  and  on  the  light 
craft,  which  had  been  especially  fitted  for  exploration.  The 
eager  and  curious  mass  of  beings  which  crowded  their  decks 
were  certainly  a  motley  show.  There  were  cavalier  and  priest, 
hidalgo  and  artisan,  soldier  and  sailor.  The  ambitious  thoughts 
which  animated  them  were  as  various  as  their  habits.  There 
were  those  of  the  adventurer,  with  no  purpose  whatever  but 
pastime,  be  it  easy  or  severe.  There  was  the  greed  of  the  spec 
ulator,  counting  the  values  of  trinkets  against  stores  of  gold. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  265 

There  was  the  brooding  of  the  administrators,  with  unsolved 
problems  of  new  communities  in  their  heads.  There  were  ears 
that  already  caught  the  songs  of  salvation  from  native  throats. 
There  was  Columbus  himself,  combining  all  ambitions  in  one, 
looking  around  this  harbor  of  Cadiz  studded  with  his  lordly 
fleet,  spreading  its  creaking  sails,  lifting  its  dripping  anchors. 
It  was  his  to  contrast  it  with  the  scene  at  Palos  a  little  over  a 
year  before.  This  needy  Genoese  vested  with  the  viceroyalty 
of  a  new  world  was  more  of  an  adventurer  than  any.  Columbia's 
He  was  a  speculator  who  overstepped  them  all  in  au-  character- 
dacious  visions  and  golden  expectancies.  He  was  an  adminis 
trator  over  a  new  government,  untried  and  undivined.  To  his 
ears  the  hymns  of  the  Church  soared  with  a  militant  warning, 
dooming  the  heathen  of  the  Indies,  and  appalling  the  Moslem 
hordes  that  imperiled  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Under  the  eye  of  this  one  commanding  spirit,  the  vessels  fell 
into  a  common  course,  and  were  wafted   out  upon  the  great 
ocean  under  the  lead  of  the  .escorting  galleys  of  the  Venetians. 
The  responsibility  of  the  captain-general  of  the  great  armament 
had  begun.     He  had  been  instructed  to  steer  widely  clear  of 
the  Portuguese  coast,  and  he  bore  away  in  the  lead  directly  to 
the   southwest.      On   the   seventh   day  (October   1) 
they  reached  the  Gran  Canaria,  where  they  tarried  ber  i.   Ca- 
to  repair  a  leaky  ship.     On  the  5th  they  anchored  at 
Gomera.     Two  days  were  required  here  to  complete  some  parts 
of  their  equipment,   for  the   islands   had   already  become  the 
centre  of  great  industries  and  produced  largely.     "  They  have 
enterprising   merchants    who    carry  their  commerce    to    many 
shores,"  wrote  Coma  to  Scillacio. 

There  were  wood  and  water  to  be  taken  on  board.  A  variety 
of  domestic  animals,  calves,  goats,  sheep,  and  swine ;  some 
fowls,  and  the  seed  of  many  orchard  and  garden  fruits,  oranges, 
lemons,  melons,  and  the  like,  were  gathered  from  the  inhabi 
tants  and  stowed  away  in  the  remaining  spaces  of  the  ships. 

On  the  7th  the  fleet  sailed,  but  it  was  not  till  the  13th  that 

the  gentle  winds  had  taken  them  beyond  Ferro  and 

1    A  i      •      i        rr      1493-    Oct°- 
the  unbounded  sea  was  about  the  great  Admiral.     Me   ber  13.    At 

bore  away  much  more  southerly  than  in  his  first  voy 
age,  so  as  to  strike,  if  he   could,  the  islands  that  were  so  con 
stantly  spoken  of,  the  previous  year,  as  lying  southeasterly  from 
Espanola. 


266  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

His  ultimate  port  was,  of  course,  the  harbor  of  La  Navidad, 
and  he  had  issued  sealed  instructions^*)  all  his  commanders,  to 
guide  any  one  who  should  part  company  with  the  fleet.  The 
winds  were  favorable,  but  the  dull  sailing  of  the  Admiral's 
ship  restrained  the  rest.  In  ten  days  they  had  overshot  the  lon 
gitude  of  the  Sargasso  Sea  without  seeing  it,  leaving  its  floating 
weeds  to  the  north.  In  a  few  days  more  they  experienced  heavy 
st.  Elmo's  tempests.  They  gathered  confidence  from  an  old  be- 
light.  jje£^  when  they  saw  St.  Elmo  waving  his  lambent 

flames  about  the  upper  rigging,  while  they  greeted  his  presence 
with  their  prayers  and  songs. 

"  The  fact  is  certain,"  says  Coma,  "  that  two  lights  shone 
through  the  darkness  of  the  night  on  the  topmast  of  the  Admi 
ral's  ship.  Forthwith  the  tempest  began  to  abate,  the  sea  to 
remit  its  fury,  the  waves  their  violence,  and  the  surface  of  the 
waves  became  as  smooth  as  polished  marble."  This  sudden  gale 
of  four  hours'  duration  came  on  St.  Simon's  eve. 

The  same  authority  represents  that  the  protracted  voyage  had 
caused  their  water  to  run  low,  for  the  Admiral,  confident  of  his 
nearness  to  land,  and  partly  to  reassure  the  timid,  had  caused  it 
to  be  served  unstintingly.  "  You  might  compare  him  to  Moses," 
adds  Coma,  "  encouraging  the  thirsty  armies  of  the  Israelites  in 
the  dry  wastes  of  the  wilderness." 

On  Saturday,  November  2,  the  leaders  compared  reckonings. 
1493.  NO-  Some  thought  they  had  come  780  leagues  from  Ferro  ; 
vember2.  others,  800.  There  were  anxiety  and  weariness  on 
board.  The  constant  fatigue  of  bailing  out  the  leaky  ships  had 
had  its  disheartening  effect.  Columbus,  with  a  practiced  eye, 
saw  signs  of  land  in  the  color  of  the  water  and  the  shifting  winds, 
November  3  ^^  ke  signale(l  every  vessel  to  take  in  sail.  It  was  a 
waiting  night.  The  first  light  of  Sunday  glinted  on  the 
top  of  a  lofty  mountain  ahead,  descried  by  a  watch  at  the  Ad 
miral's  masthead.  As  the  island  was  approached,  the  Admiral 
Dominica  named  it,  in  remembrance  of  the  holy  day,  Dominica. 
The  usual  service  with  the  Salve  Regina  was  chanted 
throughout  the  fleet,  which  moved  on  steadily,  bringing  island 
after  island  into  view.  Columbus  could  find  no  good  anchorage 
at  Dominica,  and  leaving  one  vessel  to  continue  the 
search,  he  passed  on  to  another  island,  which  he 
named  from  his  ship,  Marigalante.  Here  he  landed,  set  up  the 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE. 


267 


UPE 


\ 


GUADALOUPE,   MARIE  GALANTE,  AND  DOMINICA. 

[From  Henrique's  Les  Colonies  Francoises,  Paris,  1889.] 

royal  banner  in  token  of  possession  of  the  group,  —  for  he  had 
seen  six  islands,  —  and  sought  for  inhabitants.  He  could  find 
none,  nor  any  signs  of  occupation.  There  was  nothing  but  a 
tangle  of  wood  in  every  direction,  a  sparkling  mass  of  leafage, 


268  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

trembling  in  luxurious  beauty  and  giving  off  odors  of  spice. 
Some  of  the  men  tasted  an  unknown  fruit,  and  suffered  an  im 
mediate  inflammation  about  the  face,  which  it  required  remedies 
to  assuage.  The  next  morning  Columbus  was  attracted 
vembers.  by  the  lofty  volcanic  peak  of  another  island,  and,  sail- 

Guadaloupe.     .  .       ,  ,  ,  , 

ing  up  to  it,  he  could  see  cascades  on  the  sides  of  this 
eminence. 

"  Among  those  who  viewed  this  marvelous  phenomena  at  a 
distance  from  the  ships,"  says  Coma,  "  it  was  at  first  a  subject 
of  dispute  whether  it  were  light  reflected  from  masses  of  com 
pact  snow,  or  the  broad  surface  of  a  smooth-worn  road.  At 
last  the  opinion  prevailed  that  it  was  a  vast  river." 

Columbus  remembered  that  he  had  promised  the  monks  of 
Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe,  in  Estremadura,  to  place  some  token 
of  them  in  this  strange  world,  and  so  he  gave  this  isl 
and  the  name  of  Guadaloupe.     Landing  the  next  day, 
a  week  of  wonders  followed. 

The  exploring  parties  found  the  first  village  abandoned ; 
but  this  had  been  done  so  hastily  that  some  young  children  had 
been  left  behind.  These  they  decked  with  hawks'  bells,  to  win 
their  returning  parents.  One  place  showed  a  public  square  sur 
rounded  by  rectangular  houses,  made  of  logs  and  intertwined 
branches,  and  thatched  with  palms.  They  went  through  the 
houses  and  noted  what  they  saw.  They  observed  at  the  entrance 
of  one  some  serpents  carved  in  wood.  They  found  netted  ham 
mocks,  beside  calabashes,  pottery,  and  even  skulls  used  for  uten 
sils  of  household  service.  They  discovered  cloth  made  of  cot 
ton  ;  bows  and  bone-tipped  arrows,  said  sometimes  to  be  pointed 
with  human  shin-bones ;  domesticated  fowl  very  like  geese ; 
tame  parrots  ;  and  pineapples,  whose  flavor  enchanted  them. 
They  found  what  might  possibly  be  relics  of  Europe,  washed 
hither  by  the  equatorial  currents  as  they  set  from  the  African 
coasts,  —  an  iron  pot,  as  they  thought  it  (we  know  this  from  the 
Historic),  and  the  stern-timber  of  a  vessel,  which  they  could 
have  less  easily  mistaken.  They  found  something  to 
horrify  them  in  human  bones,  the  remains  of  a  feast, 
as  they  were  ready  enough  to  believe,  for  they  were  seeking  con 
firmation  of  the  stories  of  cannibals  which  Columbus  had  heard 
on  his  first  voyage.  They  learned  that  boys  were  fattened  like 
capons. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE. 


269 


270  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

The  next  day  they  captured  a  youth  and  some  women,  but 
the  men  eluded  them.  Columbus  was  now  fully  convinced  that 
he  had  at  last  discovered  the  cannibals,  and  when  it  was  found 
that  one  of  his  captains  and  eight  men  had  not  returned  to 
their  ship,  he  was  under  great  apprehensions.  He  sent  ex 
ploring  parties  into  the  woods.  They  hallooed  and  fired  their 
arquebuses,  but  to  no  avail.  As  they  threaded  their  way 
through  the  thickets,  they  came  upon  some  villages,  but  the  in- 
habitants  fled,  leaving  their  meals  half  cooked  ;  and  they  were 
convinced  they  saw  human  flesh  on  the  spit  and  in  the  pots. 
While  this  party  was  absent,  some  women  belonging  to  the 
neighboring  islands,  captives  of  this  savage  people,  came  off  to 
the  ships  and  sought  protection.  Columbus  decked  them  with 
rings  and  bells,  and  forced  them  ashore,  while  they  begged  to  re 
main.  The  islanders  stripped  off  their  ornaments,  and  allowed 
them  to  return  for  more.  These  women  said  that  the  chief  of 
the  island  and  most  of  the  warriors  were  absent  on  a  predatory 
expedition. 

The  party  searching  for  the  lost  men  returned  without  suc- 
cess>  when  Alonso  de  Ojeda  offered  to  lead  forty  men 
inj.0  j.ne  inferior  for  a  more  thorough  search.  This 
party  was  as  unsuccessful  as  the  other.  Ojeda  reported  he 
had  crossed  twenty-six  streams  in  going  inland,  and  that  the 
country  was  found  everywhere  abounding  in  odorous  trees, 
strange  and  delicious  fruits,  and  brilliant  birds. 

While  this  second  party  was  gone,  the  crews  took  aboard  a 
supply  of  water,  and  on  Ojeda's  return  Columbus  resolved  to 
proceed,  and  was  on  the  point  of  sailing,  when  the  absent  men 
appeared  on  the  shore  and  signaled  to  be  taken  off.  They  had 
got  lost  in  a  tangled  and  pathless  forest,  and  all  efforts  to  climb 
high  enough  in  trees  to  see  the  stars  and  determine  their  course 
had  been  hopeless.  Finally  striking  the  sea,  they  had  followed 
the  shore  till  they  opportunely  espied  the  fleet.  They  brought 
with  them  some  women  and  boys,  but  reported  they  had  seen 
no  men. 

Among  the  accounts  of  these  early  experiences  of  the  Span 
iards  with  the  native  people,  the  story  of  cannibalism 
is  a  constant  theme.     To  circulate  such  stories  en 
hanced  the  wonder  with  which  Europe  was  to  be  impressed. 
The  cruelty  of  the  custom  was  not  altogether  unwelcome  to  war- 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  271 

rant  a  retaliatory  mercilessness.  Historians  have  not  wholly  de 
cided  that  this  is  enough  to  account  for  the  most  positive  state 
ments  about  man-eating  tribes.  Fears  and  prejudices  might  do 
much  to  raise  such  a  belief,  or  at  least  to  magnify  the  habits. 
Irving  remarks  that  the  preservation  of  parts  of  the  human 
body,  among  the  natives  of  Espanola,  was  looked  upon  as  a  votive 
service  to  ancestors,  and  it  may  have  needed  only  prejudice  to 
convert  such  a  custom  into  cannibalism  when  found 
with  the  Caribs.  The  adventurousness  of  the  nature 
of  this  fierce  people  and  their  wanderings  in  wars  naturally 
served  to  sharpen  their  intellects  beyond  the  passive  unobser- 
vance  of  the  pacific  tribes  on  which  they  preyed ;  so  they  be 
came  more  readily,  for  this  reason,  the  possessors  of  any  passion 
or  vice  that  the  European  instinct  craved  to  fasten  somewhere 
upon  a  strange  people. 

The  contiguity  of  these  two  races,  the  fierce  Carib  and  the 
timid  tribes  of  the  more  northern  islands,  has  long  Caribsand 
puzzled  the  ethnologist.  Irving  indulged  in  some  Lucayans- 
rambling  notions  of  the  origin  of  the  Carib,  derived  from  ob 
servations  of  the  early  students  of  the  obscure  relations  of  the 
American  peoples.  Larger  inquiry  and  more  scientific  observa 
tion  has  since  Irving's  time  been  given  to  the  subject,  still  with 
out  bringing  the  question  to  recognizable  bearings.  The  crani- 
ology  of  the  Caribs  is  scantily  known,  and  there  is  much  yet 
to  be  divulged.  The  race  in  its  purity  has  long  been  extinct. 
Lucien  de  Rosny,  in  an  anthropological  study  of  the  Antilles 
published  by  the  French  Society  of  Ethnology  in  1886,  has 
amassed  considerable  data  for  future  deductions.  It  is  a  ques 
tion  with  some  modern  examiners  if  the  distinction  between 
these  insular  peoples  was  not  one  of  accident  and  surroundings 
rather  than  of  blood. 

When  Columbus  sailed  from  Guadaloupe  on  November  10, 
he  steered  northwest  for  Espanola,  though  his  captives 
told  him  that  the  mainland  lay   to   the    south.     He  vemberio. 

•   i-ii  1-1  i  *ni         Columbus 

passed  various  islands,  but  did  not  cast  anchor  till  the  leaves  Gua- 

daloupe 

14th,  when  he  reached  the  island  named  by  him  Santa 
Cruz,  and  found  it  still  a  region  of  Caribs.     It  was  here  the 
Spaniards  had  their  first  fight  with  this  fierce  people  in  trying 
to  capture  a  canoe  filled  with  them.     The  white  men  rammed 


272  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

and  overturned  the  hollowed  log  ;  but  the  Indians  fought  in  the 
water  so  courageously  that  some  of  the  Spanish  bucklers  were 
pierced  with  the  native  poisoned  arrows,  and  one  of  the  Span 
iards,  later,  died  of  such  a  wound  inflicted  by  one  of  the  savage 
women.  All  the  Caribs,  however,  were  finally  captured  and 
placed  in  irons  on  board  ship.  One  was  so  badly  wounded  that 
recovery  was  not  thought  possible,  and  he  was  thrown  over 
board.  The  fellow  struck  for  the  shore,  and  was  killed  by  the 
Spanish  arrows.  The  accounts  describe  their  ferocious  aspect, 
their  coarse  hair,  their  eyes  circled  with  red  paint,  and  the  mus 
cular  parts  of  their  limbs  artificially  extended  by  tight  bands 
below  and  above. 

Proceeding  thence  and  passing  a  group  of  wild  and  craggy 

islets,  which  he  named  after  St.  Ursula  and  her  Eleven  Thousand 

Virgins,  Columbus  at  last  reached  the  island  now  called  Porto 

Rico,  which  his  captives  pointed  out  to  him  as  their 

Porto  Rico.  r  \  . 

home  and  the  usual  field  01  the  Carib  incursions. 
The  island  struck  the  strangers  by  its  size,  its  beautiful  woods 
and  many  harbors,  in  one  of  which,  at  its  west  end,  they  finally 
anchored.  There  was  a  village  close  by,  which,  by  their  accounts, 
was  trim,  and  not  without  some  pretensions  to  skill  in  laying 
out,  with  its  seaside  terraces.  The  inhabitants,  however,  had 
fled.  Two  days  later,  the  fleet  weighed  anchor  and  steered  for 
La  Navidad.  . 

It  was  the  22d  of  November  when  the  explorers  made  a  level 
shore,  which  they  later  discovered  to  be  the  eastern 
end  of  Espafiola.  They  passed  gently  along  the  north 


ern  coast,  and  at  an  attractive  spot  sent  a  boat  ashore 
with  the  body  of  the  Biscayan  sailor  who  had  died  of  the  poi 
soned  arrow,  while  two  of  the  light  caravels  hovered  near  the 
beach  to  protect  the  burying  party.  Coming  to  the  spot  where 
Columbus  had  had  his  armed  conflict  with  the  natives  the  year 
before,  and  where  one  of  the  Indians  who  had  been  baptized 
at  Barcelona  was  taken,  this  fellow,  loaded  with  presents  and 
decked  in  person,  was  sent  on  shore  for  the  influence  he  might 
exert  on  his  people.  This  supposable  neophyte  does  not  again 
appear  in  history.  Only  one  of  these  native  converts  now  re 
mained,  and  the  accounts  say  that  he  lived  faithfully  with  the 
Spaniards.  Five  of  the  seven  who  embarked  had  died  on  the 
voyage. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  273 

On  the  25th,  while  the  fleet  was  at  anchor  at  Monte  Christo, 
where  Columbus  had  found  gold  in  the  river  during  his  1493    No_ 
first  voyage,  the  sailors  discovered  some  decomposed  yember25- 
bodies,  one  of  them  showing  a  beard,  which  raised  apprehensions 
of  the  fate  of  the  men  left  at  La  Navidad.     The  neighboring- 
natives  came  aboard  for  traffic  with  so  much  readiness,  however^ 
that  it  did  much  to  allay  suspicion.     It  was  the  27th  1493    No_ 
when,  after  dark,  Columbus  cast  anchor  opposite  the  oTL^Na- 
fort,  about  a  league  from  land.     It  was  too  late  to  see   vlda(L 
anything  more  than  the  outline  of  the  hills.     Expecting  a  re 
sponse  from  the  fort,  he  fired  two  cannons  ;  but  there  was  no 
sound  except  the  echoes.    The  Spaniards  looked  in  vain  for  lights 
on  the  shore.    The  darkness  was  mysterious  and  painful.    Before 
midnight  a  canoe  was  heard  approaching,  and  a  native  twice 
asked  for  the  Admiral.     A  boat  was  lowered  from  one  of  the 
vessels,  and  towed  the  canoe  to  the  flag-ship.     The  natives  were 
not  willing  to  board  her  till  Columbus  himself  appeared  at  the 
waist,  and  by  the  light  of  a  lantern  revealed  his  countenance  to 
them.     This  reassured    them.     Their  leader  brought  presents 
—  some  accounts  say  ewers  of  gold,    others    say  masks  orna 
mented   with  gold  —  from   the    cacique,   Guacanagari,   whose 
friendly  assistance  had  been  counted  upon  so  much  to  befriend 
the  little  garrison  at  La  Navidad. 

These  formalities  over,  Columbus  inquired  for  Diego  de 
Arana  and  his  men.  The  young  Lucayan,  now  Columbus's  only 
interpreter,  did  the  best  he  could  with  a  dialect  not  his  own  to 
make  a  connected  story  out  of  the  replies,  which  was  in  effect 
that  sickness  and  dissension,  together  with  the  withdrawal  of 
some  to  other  parts  of  the  island,  had  reduced  the  ranks  of  the 
garrison,  when  the  fort  as  well  as  the  neighboring  village  of 
Guacanagari  was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  mountain  chieftain, 
Caonabo,  who  burned  both  fort  and  village.  Those  of  the  Span 
iards  who  were  not  driven  into  the  sea  to  perish  had  ^  garrison 
been  put  to  death.  In  this  fight  the  friendly  cacique  killed- 
had  been  wounded.  The  visitors  said  that  this  chieftain's  hurt 
had  prevented  his  coming  with  them  to  greet  the  Admiral ;  but 
that  he  would  come  in  the  morning.  Coma,  in  his  account  of 
this  midnight  interview,  is  not  so  explicit,  and  leaves  the  reader 
to  infer  that  Columbus  did  not  get  quite  so  clear  an  apprehen 
sion  of  the  fate  of  his  colony. 


274  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

When  the  dawn  came,  the  harbor  appeared  desolate.  Not 
a  canoe  was  seen  where  so  many  sped  about  in  the  previous 
year.  A  boat  was  sent  ashore,  and  found  every  sign  that  the 
fort  had  been  sacked  as  well  as  destroyed.  Fragments  of  cloth 
ing  and  bits  of  merchandise  were  scattered  amid  its  blackened 
ruins.  There  were  Indians  lurking  behind  distant  trees,  but  no 
one  approached,  and  as  the  cacique  had  not  kept  the  word  which 
he  had  sent  of  coming  himself  in  the  morning,  suspicions  began 
to  arise  that  the  story  of  its  destruction  had  not  been  honestly 
given.  The .  new-comers  passed  a  disturbed  night  with  increas 
ing  mistrust,  and  the  next  morning  Columbus  landed  and  saw 
all  for  himself.  He  traveled  farther  away  from  the  shore  than 
those  who  landed  on  the  preceding  day,  and  gained  some  confir 
mation  of  the  story  in  finding  the  village  of  the  cacique  a  mass  of 
blackened  ruins.  Cannon  were  again  discharged,  in  the  hopes 
that  their  reverberating  echoes  might  reach  the  ears  of  those 
who  were  said  to  have  abandoned  the  fort  before  the  massacre. 
The  well  and  ditch  were  cleaned  out  to  see  if  any  treasure  had 
been  cast  into  it,  as  Columbus  had  directed  in  case  of  disaster. 
Nothing  was  found,  and  this  seemed  to  confirm  the  tale  of  the 
suddenness  of  the  attack.  Columbus  and  his  men  went  still  far 
ther  inland  to  a  village  ;  but  its  inmates  had  hurriedly  fled,  so 
that  many  articles  of  European  make,  stockings  and  a  Moorish 
robe  among  them,  had  been  left  behind,  spoils  doubtless  of  the 
fort.  Returning  nearer  the  fort,  they  discovered  the  bodies  of 
eleven  men  buried,  with  the  grass  growing  above  them,  and 
enough  remained  of  their  clothing  to  show  they  were  Europeans. 
This  is  Dr.  Chanca's  statement,  who  says  the  men  had  not  been 
dead  two  months.  Coma  says  that  the  bodies  were  unburied, 
and  had  lain  for  nearly  three  months  in  the  open  air ;  and  that 
they  were  now  given  Christian  burial. 

Later  in  the  day,  a  few  of  the  natives  were  lured  by  friendly 
signs  to  come  near  enough  to  talk  with  the  Lucayan  interpreter. 
The  story  in  much  of  its  details  was  gradually  drawn  out,  and 
Columbus  finally  possessed  himself  of  a  pretty  clear  conception 
of  the  course  of  the  disastrous  events.  It  was  a  tale  of  cruelty, 
avarice,  and  sensuality  towards  the  natives  on  the  part  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  of  jealousy  and  brawls  among  themselves.  No 
word  of  their  governor  had  been  sufficient  to  restrain  their  out 
bursts  of  passionate  encounter,  and  no  sense  of  insecurity  could 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  275 

deter  them  from  the  most  foolhardy  risks  while  away  from  the 
fort's  protection.  Those  who  had  been  appointed  to  succeed 
Arana,  if  there  were  an  occasion,  revolted  against  him,  and, 
being  unsuccessful  in  overthrowing  him,  they  went  off  with  their 
adherents  in  search  of  the  mines  of  Cibao.  This  car 
ried  them  beyond  the  protection  of  Guacanagari,  and  andCao- 
into  the  territory  of  his  enemy,  Caonabo,  a  wandering 
Carib  who  had  offered  himself  to  the  interior  natives  as  their 
chieftain,  and  who  had  acquired  a  great  ascendency  in  the  isl 
and.  This  leader,  who  had  learned  of  the  dissensions  among 
the  Spaniards,  was  no  sooner  informed  of  the  coming  of  these 
renegades  within  his  reach  than  he  caused  them  to  be  seized 
and  killed.  This  emboldened  him  to  join  forces  with  another 
cacique,  a  neighbor  of  Guacanagari,  and  to  attempt  to  drive  the 
Spaniards  from  the  island,  since  they  had  become  a  standing 
menace  to  his  power,  as  he  reasoned.  The  confederates  marched 
stealthily,  and  stole  into  the  vicinity  of  the  fort  in  the  night. 
Arana  had  but  ten  men  within  the  stockade,  and  they  kept  no 
watch.  Other  Spaniards  were  quartered  in  the  adjacent  village. 
The  onset  was  sudden  and  effective,  and  the  dismal  ruins  of  the 
fort  and  village  were  thought  to  confirm  the  story. 

Other  confirmations  followed.  A  caravel  was  sent  to  explore 
easterly,  and  was  soon  boarded  by  two  Indians  from  the  shore, 
who  invited  the  captain,  Maldonado,  to  visit  the  cacique,  who 
lay  ill  at  a  neighboring  village.  The  captain  went,  and  found 
Guacanagari  laid  up  with  a  bandaged  leg.  The  savage  told  a 
story  which  agreed  with  the  one  just  related,  and  on  its  being 
repeated  to  Columbus,  the  Admiral  himself,  with  an  imposing 
train,  went  to  see  the  cacique.  Guacanagari  seemed  anxious,  in 
repeating  the  story,  to  convince  the  Admiral  of  his  own  loy 
alty  to  the  Spaniards,  and  pointed  to  his  wounds  and  to  those 
of  some  of  his  people  as  proof.  There  was  the  usual  inter- 
change  of  presents,  hawks'  bells  for  gold,  and  similar  reckonings. 
Before  leaving,  Columbus  asked  to  have  his  surgeon  examine 
the  wound,  which  the  cacique  said  had  been  occasioned  by  a 
stone  striking  the  leg.  To  get  more  light,  the  chieftain  went  out- 
of-doors,  leaning  upon  the  Admiral's  arm.  When  the  bandage 
was  removed,  there  was  no  external  sign  of  hurt ;  but  the  cacique 
winced  if  the  flesh  was  touched.  Father  Boyle,  who  was  in  the 
Admiral's  train,  thought  the  wound  a  pretense,  and  the  story 


276  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

fabricated  to  conceal  the  perfidy  of  the  cacique,  and  urged  Co 
lumbus  to  make  an  instant  example  of  the  traitor.  The  Admi 
ral  was  not  so  confident  as  the  priest,  and  at  all  events  he 
thought  a  course  of  pacification  and  procrastination  was  the  bet 
ter  policy.  The  interview  did  not  end,  according  to  Coma,  with 
out  some  strange  manifestations  on  the  part  of  the  cacique, 
which  led  the  Spaniards  for  a  moment  to  fear  that  a  trial  of 
arms  was  to  come.  The  chief  was  not  indisposed  to  try  his  legs 
enough  to  return  with  the  Admiral  to  his  ship  that  very  evening. 
Here  he  saw  the  Carib  prisoners,  and  the  accounts  tell  us  how 
he  shuddered  at  the  sight  of  them.  He  wondered  at  the  horses 
and  other  strange  creatures  which  were  shown  to  him.  Coma 
tells  us  that  the  Indians  thought  that  the  horses  were  fed  on 
human  flesh.  The  women  who  had  been  rescued  from  the 
Caribs  attracted,  perhaps,  even  more  the  attention  of  the  sav- 
DonaCata-  age>  an(i  particularly  a  lofty  creature  among  them, 

whom  the  Spaniards  had  named  Dona  Catalina.  Gu- 
acanagari  was  observed  to  talk  with  her  more  confidingly  than 
he  did  with  the  others. 

Father  Boyle  urged  upon  the  Admiral  that  a  duress  simi 
lar  to  that  of  Catalina  was  none  too  good  for  the  perfidious 
cacique,  as  the  priest  persisted  in  calling  the  savage,  but 
Columbus  hesitated.  There  was,  however,  little  left  of  that 
mutual  confidence  which  had  characterized  the  relations  of  the 
Admiral  and  the  chieftain  during  the  trying  days  of  the  ship 
wreck,  the  year  before.  When  the  Admiral  offered  to  hang 
a  cross  on  the  neck  of  his  visitor,  and  the  cacique  understood 
it  to  be  the  Christian  emblem,  he  shrank  from  the  visible  con 
tact  of  a  faith  of  which  the  past  months  had  revealed  its  char 
acter.  With  this  manifestation  they  parted,  and  the  cacique 
was  set  ashore.  Coma  seems  to  unite  the  incidents  of  this  in 
terview  on  the  ship  with  those  of  the  meeting  ashore. 

There  comes  in  here,  according  to  the  received  accounts,  a 
little  passage  of  Indian  intrigue  and  gallantry.  A  messenger 
appeared  the  next  day  to  inquire  when  the  Admiral  sailed, 
and  later  another  to  barter  gold.  This  last  held  some  talk 

with  the  Indian  women,  and  particularly  with  Cata- 
SSaCata~  ^na*  About  midnight  a  light  appeared  on  the  shore, 

and  Catalina  and  her  companions,  while  the  ship's 
company,  except  a  watch,  were  sleeping,  let  themselves  down 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  277 

the  vessel's  side,  and  struck  out  for  the  shore.  The  watch  dis 
covered  the  escape,  but  not  in  time  to  prevent  the  women  hav 
ing  a  considerable  start.  Boats  pursued,  but  the  swimmers 
touched  the  beach  first.  Four  of  them,  however,  were  caught, 
but  Catalina  and  the  others  escaped. 

When,  the  next  morning,  Columbus  sent  a  demand  for  the 
fugitives,  it  was  found  that  Guacanagari  had  moved  his  house 
hold  and  all  his  effects  into  the  interior  of  the  island.  The 
story  got  its  fitting  climax  in  the  suspicious  minds  of  the  Span 
iards,  when  they  supposed  that  the  fugitive  beauty  was  with 
him.  Here  was  only  a  fresh  instance  of  the  savage's  perfidy. 

Columbus  had  before  this  made  up  his  mind  that  the  vicinity 
of  his  hapless  fort  was  not  a  good  site  for  the  town 

x  °  Columbus 

which  he  intended  to  build.     The  ground  was  low,  abandons 

&  'La  Navidad. 

moist,  and  unhealthy.  There  were  no  building  stones 
near  at  hand.  There  was  need  of  haste  in  a  decision.  The 
men  were  weary  of  their  confinement  on  shipboard.  The  horses 
and  other  animals  suffered  from  a  like  restraint.  Accordingly 
expeditions  were  sent  to  explore  the  coast,  and  it  soon  became 
evident  that  they  must  move  beyond  the  limits  of  Guacanagari's 
territory,  if  they  would  find  the  conditions  demanded.  Melchior 
Maldonado,  in  command  of  one  of  these  expeditions,  had  gone 
eastward  until  he  coasted  the  country  of  another  cacique. 
This  chief  at  first  showed  hostility,  but  was  won  at  last  by 
amicable  signs.  From  him  they  learned  that  Guacanagari  had 
gone  to  the  mountains.  From  another  they  got  the  story  of 
the  massacre  of  the  fort,  almost  entirely  accordant  with  what 
they  had  already  discovered. 

Not  one  of  the  reports  from  these  minor  explorations  was 
satisfactory,  and  December  7,  the  entire  fleet  weighed  anchor 
to  proceed  farther  east.  Stress  of  weather  caused  them  to  put 
into  a  harbor,  which  on  examination  seemed  favorable  for  their 
building  project.  The  roadstead  was  wide.  A  rocky  point 
offered  a  site  for  a  citadel.  There  were  two  rivers  I8abeiia 
winding  close  by  in  an  attractive  country,  and  capable  f 
of  running  mills.  Nature,  as  they  saw  it,  was  variegated  and 
alluring.  Flowers  and  fruits  were  in  abundance.  "  Garden 
seeds  came  up  in  five  days  after  they  were  sown,"  says  Coma  of 
their  trial  of  the  soil,  "  and  the  gardens  were  speedily  clothed 


278  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

in  green,  producing  plentifully  onions  and  pumpkins,  radishes 
and  beets."  "  Vegetables/'  wrote  Dr.  Chanca,  "  attain  a  more 
luxuriant  growth  here  in  eight  days  than  they  would  in  Spain 
in  twenty."  It  was  also  learned  that  the  gold  mines  of  the 
cibaogoid  Cibao  mountains  were  inland  from  the  spot,  at  no 
mines.  great  distance. 

The  disembarkation  began.  Days  of  busy  exertion  followed. 
Horses,  livestock,  provisions,  munitions,  and  the  varied  mer 
chandise  were  the  centre  of  a  lively  scene  about  their  encamp 
ment.  This  they  established  near  a  sheet  of  water.  Artificers, 
herdsmen,  cavaliers,  priests,  laborers,  and  placemen  made  up 
the  motley  groups  which  were  seen  on  all  sides. 

In  later  years,  the  Spaniards  regulated  all  the  formalities 
and  prescribed  with  precision  the  proceedings  in  the  laying 
out  of  towns  in  the  New  World,  but  Columbus  had  no  such 
directions.  The  planting  of  a  settlement  was  a  novel  and  un 
tried  method.  It  was  a  natural  thought  to  commemorate  in 
the  new  Christian  city  the  great  patroness  of  his  undertaking, 
and  the  settlement  bore  from  the  first  the  name  of  Isabella. 
His  engineers  laid  out  square  and  street.  A  site  for  the  church 
was  marked,  another  for  a  public  storehouse,  another  for  the 
house  of  the  Admiral,  —  all  of  stone.  The  ruins  of  these  three 
buildings  are  the  most  conspicuous  relics  in  the  present  soli 
tary  waste.  The  great  mass  of  tenements,  which  were  stretched 
along  the  streets  back  from  the  public  square,  where  the  main 
edifice  stood,  were  as  hastily  run  up  as  possible,  to  cover  in  the 
colony.  It  was  time  enough  for  solider  structures  later  to  take 
their  places.  Parties  were  occupied  in  clearing  fields  and  set 
ting  out  orchards.  There  were  landing  piers  to  be  made  at 
the  shore.  So  everybody  tasked  bodily  strength  in  rival  en 
deavors.  The  natural  results  followed  in  so  incongruous  a 
crowd.  Those  not  accustomed  to  labor  broke  down  from  its 
hardships.  The  seekers  for  pleasure,  not  finding  it  in  the  com 
mon  toil,  rushed  into  excesses,  and  imperiled  all.  The  little 
lake,  so  attractive  to  the  inexperienced,  was  soon,  with  its  night 
sickness  in  vapors,  the  source  of  disease.  Few  knew  how  to  pro- 
the  colony.  ^QQ^  themselves  f rom  the  insidious  malaria.  Discom 
fort  induced  discouragement,  and  the  mental  firmness  so  neces 
sary  in  facing  strange  and  exacting  circumstances  gave  way. 
Forebodings  added  greater  energy  to  the  disease.  It  was  not 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  279 

long  before  the  colony  was  a  camp  of  hospitals,  about  one  half 
the  people  being  incapacitated  for  labor.     In  the  midst  of  all 
this  downheartedness  Columbus  himself  succumbed,   Coiumbus 
and  for  some  weeks  was  unable  to  direct  the  trying  sick> 
state  of  affairs,  except  as  he  could  do  so  in  the  intervals  of  his 
lassitude. 

But  as  the  weeks  went  on  a  better  condition  was  apparent. 
Work  took  a  more  steady  aspect.  The  ships  had  discharged 
their  burdens.  They  lay  ready  for  the  return  voyage. 

Columbus  had  depended  on  the  exertions  of  the  little  colony 
at  La  Navidad  to  amass  a  store  of  gold  and  other  precious  com 
modities  with  which  to  laden  the  returning  vessels.     He  knew 
the  disappointment  which  would  arise  if  they  should  carry  little 
else  than  the  dismal  tale  of  disaster.     Nothing  lay  upon  his 
mind  more  weightily  than  this  mortification  and  mis 
fortune.     There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  seek  to  seek  the 
the  mines  of  Cibao,  for  the  chance  of  sending  more  en 
couraging  reports.     Gold  had  indeed  been  brought  in  to  the 
settlement,  but  only  scantily ;  and  its  quantity  was  not  suited 
to   make  real  the    gorgeous  dreams  of   the  East    with  which 
Spain  was  too  familiar. 

So  an  expedition  to  Cibao  was  organized,  and  Ojeda  was 
placed  in  command.  The  force  assigned  to  him  was  but  fifteen 
men  in  all,  but  each  was  well  armed  and  courageous.  They  ex 
pected  perils,  for  they  had  to  invade  the  territory  of  Caonabo, 
the  destroyer  of  La  Navidad. 

The  march  began  early  in  January,  1494  ;  perhaps  just  after 
they  had  celebrated  their  first  solemn  mass  in  a  tem- 

i  T  r*        T-(  11.  1494.     Jan- 

porary  chapel  on  January  6.  For  two  days  their  prog-  uary.  First 
ress  was  slow  and  toilsome,  through  forests  without 
a  sign  of  human  life,  for  the  savage  denizens  had  moved  back 
from  the  vicinity  of  the  Spaniards.  The  men  encamped,  the  second 
night,  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  and  when  the  dawn  broke  they 
looked  down  on  its  further  side  over  a  broad  valley,  with  its 
scattered  villages.  They  boldly  descended,  and  met  nothing  but 
hospitality  from  the  villagers.  Their  course  now  lay  towards 
and  up  the  opposite  slope  of  the  valley.  They  pushed  on  with 
out  an  obstacle.  The  rude  inhabitants  of  the  mountains  were 
as  friendly  as  those  of  the  valley.  They  did  not  see  nor  did 
they  hear  anything  of  the  great  Caonabo.  Every  stream  they 


280  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

passed  glittered  with  particles  of  gold  in  its  sand.     The  natives 

had  an  expert  way  of  separating  the  metal,  and  the  Spaniards 

flattered  them  for  their  skill.     Occasionally  a  nugget 

Gold  found.  £          ,         ~.     ,          .   ,      ,  _ /,  .    ,      , 

was  round.  Ojeda  picked  up  a  lump  which  weighed 
nine  ounces,  and  Peter  Martyr  looked  upon  it  wonderingly 
when  it  reached  Spain.  If  all  this  was  found  on  the  surface,  what 
must  be  the  wealth  in  the  bowels  of  these  astounding  mountains  ? 
The  obvious  answer  was  what  Ojeda  hastened  back  to  make  to 
Columbus.  A  similar  story  was  got  from  a  young  cav 
alier,  Gorvalan,  who  had  been  dispatched  in  another 
direction  with  another  force.  There  was  in  all  this  the  foun 
dation  of  miracles  for  the  glib  tongue  and  lively  imagination. 
One  of  these  exuberant  stories  reached  Coma,  and  Scillacio 
makes  him  say  that  "  the  most  splendid  thing  of  all  (which  I 
should  be  ashamed  to  commit  to  writing,  if  I  had  not  received 
it  from  a  trustworthy  source)  is  that,  a  rock  adjacent  to  a  moun 
tain  being  struck  with  a  club,  a  large  quantity  of  gold  burst  out, 
and  particles  of  gold  of  indescribable  brightness  glittered  all 
around  the  spot.  Ojeda  was  loaded  down  by  means  of  this  out 
burst."  It  was  stories  like  these  which  prepared  the  way  for 
the  future  reaction  in  Spain. 

There  was  material  now  to  give  spirit  to  the  dispatch  to  his 
sovereigns,  and  Columbus  sat  down  to  write  it.  It 
has  come  down  to  us,  and  is  printed  in  Navarre te's 
collection,  just  as  it  was  perused  by  the  King  and 
Queen,  who  entered  in  the  margins  their  comments  and  orders. 
Columbus  refers  at  the  beginning  to  letters  already  written  to 
their  Highnesses,  and  mentions  others  addressed  to  Father 
Buele  and  to  the  treasurer,  but  they  are  not  known.  Then, 
speaking  of  the  expeditions  of  Ojeda  and  Gorvalan,  he  begs 
the  sovereigns  to  satisfy  themselves  of  the  hopeful  prospects 
for  gold  by  questioning  Gorvalan,  who  was  to  return  with  the 
ships.  He  advises  their  Highnesses  to  return  thanks  to  God 
for  all  this.  Those  personages  write  in  the  margin,  "  Their  High 
nesses  return  thanks  to  God  !  "  He  then  explains  his  embarrass 
ment  from  the  sickness  of  his  men,  —  the  "greater  part  of  all," 
as  he  adds,  —  and  says  that  the  Indians  are  very  familiar,  ram 
bling  about  the  settlement  both  day  and  night,  necessitating  a 
constant  watch.  As  he  makes  excuses  and  gives  his  reasons  for 
not  doing  this  or  that,  the  compliant  monarchs  as  constantly 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  281 

write  against  the  paragraphs,  "  He  has  done  well."  Columbus 
says  he  is  building  stone  bulwarks  for  defense,  and  when  this 
is  done  he  shall  provide  for  accumulating  gold.  "  Exactly  as 
should  be  done,"  chime  in  the  monarchs.  He  then  asks  for 
fresh  provisions  to  be  sent  to  him,  and  tells  how  much  they 
have  done  in  planting.  "  Fonseca  has  been  ordered  to  send 
further  seeds,"  is  the  comment.  He  complains  that  the  wine 
casks  had  been  badly  coopered  at  Seville,  and  that  the  wine  had 
all  run  out,  so  that  wine  was  their  prime  necessity.  He  urges 
that  calves,  heifers,  asses,  working  mares,  be  sent  to  them  ; 
and  that  above  all,  to  prevent  discouragement,  the  supplies 
should  arrive  at  Isabella  by  May,  and  that  particularly  med 
icines  should  come,  as  their  stock  was  exhausted.  He  then  re 
fers  to  the  cannibals  whom  he  would  send  back,  and  asks  that 
they  may  be  made  acquainted  with  the  true  faith  and  taught 
the  Spanish  tongue.  "  His  suggestions  are  good,"  is  the  mar 
ginal  royal  comment. 

Now  comes  the  vital  point  of  his  dispatch.  We  want  cat 
tle,  he  says.  They  can  be  paid  for  in  Carib  slaves.  Let  yearly 
caravels  conduct  this  trade.  It  will  be  easy,  with  the  Coiumbus 
boats  which  are  building,  to  capture  a  plenty  of  these  fradein8 a 
savages.  Duties  can  be  levied  on  these  importa-  slaves< 
tions  of  slaves.  On  this  point  he  urges  a  reply.  The  monarchs 
see  the  fatality  of  the  step,  and,  according  to  the  marginal  com 
ment,  suspend  judgment  and  ask  the  Admiral's  further  thoughts. 
"  A  more  distinct  suggestion  for  the  establishment  of  a  slave 
trade  was  never  proposed,"  is  the  modern  comment  of  Arthur 
Helps.  Columbus  then  adds  that  he  has  bought  for  the  use  of 
the  colony  certain  of  the  vessels  which  brought  them  out,  and 
these  would  be  retained  at  Isabella,  and  used  in  making  further 
discoveries.  The  comment  is  that  Fonseca  will  pay  the  own 
ers.  He  then  intimates  that  more  care  should  be  exercised  in 
the  selection  of  placemen  sent  to  the  colony,  for  the  enterprise 
had  suffered  already  from  unfitness  in  such  matters.  The  mon 
archs  promise  amends.  He  complains  that  the  Granada  lance- 
men,  who  offered  themselves  in  Seville  mounted  on  fine  horses, 
had  subsequently  exchanged  these  animals  to  their  own  personal 
advantage  for  inferior  horses.  He  says  the  footmen  made  simi 
lar  exchanges  to  fill  their  own  pockets. 

So,  dating  this  memorial  on  January  30,  1494,  the  man  who 


282  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

was  ambitious  to  become  the  first  slave-driver  of  the  New  World 
1494.  Jan-     kid  down  his  quill,  praising  God,  as  he  asked  his 


sovereigns  to  do.  The  poor  creatures  who  wandered 
letter.  jn  an(j  about  among  the  cabins  of  the  Spaniards  were 

fast  forming  their  own  comments,  which  were  quite  as  astute 
as  those  of  the  Admiral's  royal  masters.  Holding  up  a  piece  of 
gold,  the  natives  learned  to  say,  —  and  Columbus  had  given 

them  their  first  lesson  in  such  philosophy,  —  "  Behold 
chris'tSSs'  the  Christians'  God  !  "  Benzoni,  the  first  traveler 

who  came  among  them  with  his  eyes  open,  and  daring 
to  record  the  truth,  heard  them  say  this.  Intrusting  his  memo 
rial  to  Antonio  de  Torres,  and  putting  him  in  command  of  the 
1494.  Feb.  twelve  ships  that  were  to  return  to  Spain,  Columbus 
Sjy^J?  saw  the  fleet  sail  away  on  February  2,  1494.  There 
to  Spain.  W0uld  seem  to  have  been  committed  to  some  one  on  the 
ships  two  other  accounts  of  the  results  of  this  second  voyage 
up  to  this  time,  which  have  come  down  to  us.  One  of  these  is 
chanca'a  a  narrative  by  Dr.  Chanca,  the  physician  of  the  col- 
narrative.  ony,  whom  Columbus,  in  his  memorial  to  the  mon- 
archs,  credits  with  doing  good  service  in  his  profession  at  a 
sacrifice  of  the  larger  emoluments  which  the  practice  of  it  had 
brought  to  him  in  Seville.  The  narrative  of  Chanca  had  been 
sent  by  him  to  the  cathedral  chapter  of  Seville.  The  original 
is  thought  to  be  lost  ;  but  Navarrete  used  a  transcript  which 
belonged  to  a  collection  formed  by  Father  Antonio  de  Aspa, 
a  monk  of  the  monastery  of  the  Mejorada,  where  Columbus  is 
known  to  have  deposited  some  of  his  papers.  Major  has  given 
us  an  English  translation  of  it  in  his  /Select  Letters  of  Colum 
bus.  Major's  text  will  also  be  found  in  the  late  James  Lenox's 
English  version  of  the  other  account,  which  he  gave  to  scholars 
in  1859. 

There  is  a  curious  misconception  in  this  last  document,  which 
represents  that  Columbus  had  reached  these  new  regions  by  the 
African  route  of  the  Portuguese,  —  a  confusion  doubtless  arising 
from  the  imperfect  knowledge  which  the  Italian  translator, 
Coma's  nar-  Nicholas  Scillacio,  had  of  the  current  geographical  de- 
rative.  velopments.  A  Spaniard,  Guglielmo  Coma,  seems  to 
have  written  about  the  new  discoveries  in  some  letters,  appar 
ently  revived  in  some  way  from  somebody's  personal  observa 
tion,  which  Scillacio  put  into  a  Latin  dress,  and  published  at 


THE  SECOND   VOYAGE.  283 

Pavia,  or  possibly  at  Pisa.  This  little  tract  is  of  the  utmost 
rarity,  and  Mr.  Lenox,  considering  the  suggestion  of  Ronchini, 
that  the  blunder  of  Scillacio  may  have  caused  the  destruction 
of  the  edition,  replies  by  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
scarcely  rarer  than  many  other  of  the  contemporary  tracts  of 
Columbus's  voyage,  about  which  there  exists  no  such  reason. 

We  get  also  some  reports  by  Torres  himself  on  the  affairs  of 
the  colony  in  various  letters  of  a  Florentine  merchant,   Verde's 
Sinione  Verde,  to  whom  he  had  communicated  them.   letters- 
These  letters  have  been  recently  (1875)  found  in  the  archives 
of  Florence,  and  have  been  made  better  known  still  later  by 
Harrisse. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SECOND   VOYAGE,  CONTINUED. 
1494. 

THE  departure  of  the  fleet  made  conspicuous  at  last  a  threat 
ening  faction  of  those  whose  terms  of  service  had  prevented 
their  taking  passage  in  the  ships.  This  organized  discontent 
was  the  natural  result  of  a  depressing  feeling  that  all  the 
Life  m  isa-  dreams  of  ease  and  plenty  which  had  sustained  them 
beUa*  in  their  embarkation  were  but  delusions.  Life  in  Isa 

bella  had  made  many  of  them  painfully  conscious  of  the  lack  of 
that  success  and  comfort  which  had  been  counted  upon.  The 
failure  of  what  in  these  later  days  is  known  as  the  commissariat 
was  not  surprising.  With  all  our  modern  experience  in  fitting 
out  great  expeditions,  we  know  how  often  the  fate  of  such  en 
terprises  is  put  in  jeopardy  by  rascally  contractors.  Their  arts, 
however,  are  not  new  ones.  Fonseca  was  not  so  wary,  Colum 
bus  was  not  so  exacting,  that  such  arts  could  not  be  practiced 
in  Seville,  as  to-day  in  London  and  New  York.  This  jobbery, 
added  to  the  scant  experience  of  honest  endeavor,  inevitably 
brought  misfortune  and  suffering  through  spoiled  provisions  and 
wasted  supplies. 

The  faction,  taking  advantage  of  this  condition,  had  two  per- 
Mutinous  sons  f°r  leaders,  whose  official  position  gave  the  body 
factions.  a  vantage  -  ground.  Bernal  Diaz  de  Pisa  was  the 
comptroller  of  the  colony,  and  his  office  permitted  him  to  have 
an  oversight  of  the  Admiral's  accounts.  It  is  said  that  before 
this  time  he  had  put  himself  in  antagonism  to  authority  by  ques 
tioning  some  of  the  doings  of  the  Admiral.  He  began  now  to 
talk  to  the  people  of  the  Admiral's  deceptive  and  exaggerating 
descriptions  intended  for  effect  in  Spain,  and  no  doubt  repre 
sented  them  to  be  at  least  as  false  as  they  were.  Diaz  drew 
pictures  that  produced  a  prevailing  gloom  beyond  what  the 
facts  warranted,  for  deceit  is  a  game  of  varying  extremes.  He 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  285 

was  helped  on  by  the  assayer  of  the  colony,  Fermin  Cado,  who 
spoke  as  an  authority  on  the  poor  quality  of  the  gold,  and  on 
the  Indian  habit  of  amassing  it  in  their  families,  so  that  the 
moderate  extent  of  it  which  the  natives  had  offered  was  not  the 
accretions  of  a  day,  but  the  result  of  the  labor  of  generations. 
With  leaders  acting  in  concert,  it  had  been  planned  to  seize  the 
remaining  ships,  and  to  return  to  Spain.  This  done,  the  muti 
neers  expected  to  justify  their  conduct  by  charges  against  the 
Admiral,  and  a  statement  of  them  had  already  been 
drawn  up  by  Bernal  Diaz.  The  mutiny,  however,  was  schemes  dis- 
discovered,  and  Columbus  had  the  first  of  his  many 
experiences  in  suppressing  a  revolt.  Bernal  Diaz  was  impris 
oned  on  one  of  the  ships,  and  was  carried  to  Spain  for  trial. 
Other  leaders  were  punished  in  one  way  and  another.  To  pre 
vent  the  chances  of  success  in  future  schemes  of  revolt,  all 
munitions  and  implements  of  war  were  placed  together  in  one 
of  the  ships,  under  a  supervision  which  Columbus  thought  he 
could  trust. 

The  prompt  action  of  the  Admiral  had  not  been  taken  with 
out  some  question  of  his  authority,  or  at  least  it  was  held  that 
he  had  been  injudicious  in  the  exercise  of  it.  The  event  left  a 
rankling  passion  among  many  of  the  colonists  against  what  was 
called  Columbus's  vindictiveness  and  presumptuous  zeal.  With 
it  all  was  the  feeling  that  a  foreigner  was  oppressing  them, 
and  was  weaving  about  them  the  meshes  of  his  arbitrary  am 
bition. 


Columbus  now  determined  to  go  himself  to  the  gold  regions 
of  the  interior.     He  arranged  that  Diego,  his  brother, 
—  another  foreigner  !  —  should  have  the  command  in  go°es™  the 
his  absence.     Las  Casas  pictures  for  us  this  younger  8 
of  the  Colombos,  and  calls  him  gentle,  unobtrusive,  and  kindly. 
He  allows  to  him  a  priest's  devotion,  but  does  not 
consider  him  quite  worldly  enough  in  his  dealings  with 
men  to  secure  himself  against  ungenerous  wiles. 

It  was  the  12th  of  March  when  Columbus  set  out   on   his 
march.     He  conducted  a  military  contingent  of  about  1494  March 
400  well-armed  men,  including  what  lancers  he  could  12' 
mount.     In   his  train  followed  an  array  of  workmen,  miners, 
artificers,  and  porters,  with  their  burdens  of  merchandise  and 


286  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

implements.     A  mass  of    the  natives  hovered  about  the  pro 
cession. 

Their  progress  was  as  martial  as  it  could  be  made.  Banners 
were  flaunted.  Drums  and  trumpets  were  sounded.  Their 
armor  was  made  to  glisten.  Crossing  the  low  land,  they  came 
to  a  defile  in  the  mountain.  There  was  nothing  before  them  but 
a  tortuous  native  trail  winding  upward  among  the  rocks  and 
through  tangled  forest.  It  was  ill  suited  for  the  passage  of  a 
heavily  burdened  force.  Some  of  the  younger  cavaliers  sprang 
to  the  front,  and  gathering;  around  them  woodmen  and 

Columbus  .  '  n 

makes  a        pioneers,  they  opened  the  way  ;  and  thus  a  road  was 

constructed  through  the  pass,  the  first  made  in  the  New 

World.     This  work  of  the  proud  cavaliers  was  called  El  puerto 

de  los  Hidalgos.    The  summit  of  the  mountain  afforded  afresh 

the  grateful  view  of  the  luxuriant  valley  which  had  delighted 

The  Vega       Ojeda, —  royally  rich  as  it  was  in  every  aspect,  and 

deserving  the  name  which  Columbus  now  gave  it  of 

the  Vega  Real. 

Here,  on  the  summit  of  Santo  Cerro,  the  tradition  of  the 
island  goes  that  Columbus  caused  that  cross  to  be  erected 
which  the  traveler  to-day  looks  upon  in  one  of  the  side  chapels 
of  the  cathedral  at  Santo  Domingo.  It  stood  long  enough 
Erects  a  *°  perform  many  miracles,  as  the  believers  tell  us, 
and  was  miraculously  saved  in  an  earthquake.  De 
Lorgues  does  not  dare  to  connect  the  actual  erection  with  the 
holy  trophy  of  the  cathedral.  Descending  to  the  lowlands,  the 
little  army  and  its  followers  attracted  the  notice  of  the  amazed 
natives  by  clangor  and  parade.  This  display  was  made  more 
astounding  whenever  the  horses  were  set  to  prancing,  as  they  ap 
proached  and  passed  a  native  hamlet.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that 
the  first  horseman  who  dismounted  was  thought  by  the  natives 
to  have  parceled  out  a  single  creature  into  convenient  parts. 
The  Indians,  timid  at  first,  were  enticed  by  a  show  of  trinkets, 
and  played  upon  by  the  interpreters.  Thus  they  gradually 
were  won  over  to  repay  all  kindnesses  with  food  and  drink, 
while  they  rendered  many  other  kindly  services.  The  army 
came  to  a  large  stream,  and  Columbus  called  it  the  River  of 
Reeds.  It  was  the  same  which,  the  year  before,  knowing  it 
only  where  it  emptied  into  the  sea,  he  had  called  the  River  of 
Gold,  because  he  had  been  struck  with  the  shining  particles 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  287 

which  he  found  among  its  sands.  Here  they  encamped.  The 
men  bathed.  They  found  everything  about  them  like  the  dales 
of  Paradise,  if  we  may  believe  their  rehearsals.  The  landscape 
was  very  different  from  that  which  Bernal  Diaz  was  to  tell  of, 
if  only  once  he  got  the  ears  of  the  Court  in  Seville. 

The  river  was  so  wide  and  deep  that  the  men  could  not  ford 
it,  so  they  made  rafts  to  take  over  everything  but  the  horses. 
These  swam  the  current.  Then  the  force  passed  on,  but  was 
confronted  at  last  by  the  rugged  slopes  of  the  Cibao  Cibao  moun. 
mountains.  The  soldiers  clambered  up  the  defile  pain-  tam8' 
fully  and  slowly.  The  pioneers  had  done  what  they  could  to 
smooth  the  way,  but  the  ascent  was  wearying.  They  could  oc 
casionally  turn  from  their  toil  to  look  back  over  this  luxuriant 
valley  which  they  were  leaving,  and  lose  their  vision  in  its  vast 
extent.  Las  Casas  describes  it  as  eighty  leagues  one  way,  and 
twenty  or  thirty  the  other. 

It  was  a  scene  of  bewildering  beauty  that  they  left  behind  ; 
it  was  one  of  sterile  heights,  scraggy  pines,  and  rocky,  precipices 
which  they  entered.  The  leaders  computed  that  they  were 
eighteen  leagues  from  Isabella,  and  as  Columbus  thought  he  saw 
signs  of  gold,  amber,  lapis  lazuli,  copper,  and  one  knows  not 
what  else  of  wealth,  all  about  him,  he  was  content  to  establish 
his  fortified  position  hereabouts,  without  pushing  farther.  He 
looked  around,  and  found  at  the  foot  of  one  of  the  declivities 
of  the  interior  of  this  mountainous  region  a  fertile  plain,  with 
a  running  river,  gurgling  over  beds  of  jasper  and  marble,  and 
in  the  midst  of  it  a  little  eminence,  which  he  could  FortSt. 
easily  fortify,  as  the  river  nearly  surrounded  it  like  a  Thomas- 
natural  ditch.  Here  he  built  his  fort.  Recent  travelers  say 
that  an  overgrowth  of  trees  now  covers  traces  of  its  founda 
tions.  The  fortress  was,  as  he  believed,  so  near  the  gold  that 
one  could  see  it  with  his  eyes  and  touch  it  with  his  hands,  and 
so,  as  Las  Casas  tells  us,  he  named  it  St.  Thomas. 

The  Indians  had  already  learned  to  recognize  the  Christian's 
god.  They  found  the  golden  deity  in  bits  in  the  streams.  They 
took  the  idol  tenderly  to  his  militant  people.  For  their  part, 
the  poor  natives  much  preferred  rings  and  hawks'  bells,  and  so 
a  basis  of  traffic  was  easily  found.  In  this  way  Columbus  got 
some  gold,  but  he  more  readily  got  stories  of  other  spots,  whither 
the  natives  pointed  vaguely,  where  nuggets,  which  would  dwarf 


288  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

all  these  bits,  could  be  found.     Columbus  began  to  wonder  why 
he  never  reached  the  best  places. 

The  Spaniards  soon  got  to  know  the  region  better.  Juan  de 
country  Luxan,  who  had  been  sent  out  with  a  party  to  see 
examined.  wnat  he  could  find,  reported  that  the  region  was  moun 
tainous  and  in  its  upper  parts  sterile,  to  be  sure,  but  that  there 
were  delicious  valleys,  and  plenty  of  land  to  cultivate,  and  pas 
turing  enough  for  herds.  When  he  came  back  with  these  re 
ports,  the  men  put  a  good  deal  of  heart  in  the  work  which  they 
were  bestowing  on  the  citadel  of  St.  Thomas,  so  that  it  was 
soon  done.  Pedro  Mar^arite  was  placed  in  command 

Columbus  .  «      « -          .  ii  x-iii 

returns  to      with  fifty-six  men,  and  then  Columbus  started  to  re- 

Isabella.  ^ 

turn  to  Isabella. 

When  the  Admiral  reached  the  valley,  he  met  a  train  of  sup 
plies  going  forward  to  St.  Thomas,  and  as  there  were  difficulties 
of  fording  and  other  obstacles,  he  spent  some  time  in  examining 
the  country  and  marking  out  lines  of  communication.  This 
Natives  of  brought  him  into  contact  with  the  villages  of  the  val- 
the  vaiiey.  jey^  an(j  fa  grew  better  informed  of  the  kind  of  peo 
ple  among  whom  his  colonists  were  to  live.  He  did  not,  how 
ever,  discern  that  under  a  usually  pacific  demeanor  there  was  no 
lack  of  vigorous  determination  in  this  people,  which  it  might 
not  be  so  wise  to  irritate  to  the  point  of  vengeance.  He  found, 
too,  that  they  had  a  religion,  perhaps  prompting  to  some  virtues 
he  little  suspected  in  his  own,  and  that  they  jealously  guarded 
their  idols.  He  discovered  that  experience  had  given  them  no 
near  acquaintance  with  the  medicinal  properties  of  the  native 
herbs  and  trees.  They  associated  myths  with  places,  and  would 
tell  you  that  the  sun  and  moon  were  but  creatures  of  their  isl 
and  which  had  escaped  from  one  of  their  caverns,  and  that 
mankind  had  sprung  from  the  crannies  of  their  rocky  places. 
The  bounteousness  of  nature,  causing  little  care  for  the  future, 
had  spread  among  them  a  love  of  hospitality,  and  Columbus 
found  himself  welcome  everywhere,  and  continued  to  be  so  till 
he  and  his  abused  their  privileges. 

On  the  29th  of  March,  Columbus  was  back  in  Isabella,  to 
i4M.  March  ^n^  that  the  plantings  of  January  were  already  yield- 
Dusin°isa?~  ing  fruits,  and  the  colony,  in  its  agricultural  aspects, 

at  least,  was  promising,  for  the  small  areas  that  had 
already  been  cultivated.     But  the  tidings  from  the  new  fort  in 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  289 

the  mountains  which  had  just  come  in  by  messenger  were  not  so 
cheering,  for  it  seemed  to  be  the  story  of  La  Navidad  repeated. 
The  license  and  exactions  of  the  garrison  had  stirred  up  the 
neighboring  natives,  and  Pedro  Margarite,  in  his  message, 
showed  his  anxiety  lest  Caonabo  should  be  able  to  mass  the 
savages,  exasperated  by  their  wrongs,  in  an  attack  upon  the 
post.  Columbus  sent  a  small  reinforcement  to  St.  Thomas,  and 
dispatched  a  force  to  make  a  better  road  thither,  in  order  to 
facilitate  any  future  operations. 

The  Admiral's  more  immediate  attention  was  demanded  by 
the  condition  of  Isabella.  Intermittent  fever  and  various  other 
disturbances  incident  to  a  new  turning  of  a  reeking  soil  were 
making  sad  ravages  in  the  colony.  The  work  of  Condition  of 
building  suffered  in  consequence.  The  sick  engrossed  the  town> 
the  attention  of  men  withdrawn  from  their  active  labors,  or 
they  were  left  to  suffer  from  the  want  of  such  kindly  aid.  The 
humidity  of  the  climate  and  a  prodigal  waste  had  brought  pro 
visions  so  low  that  an  allowance  even  of  the  unwholesome  stock 
which  remained  was  made  necessary.  In  order  to  provide 
against  impending  famine,  men  were  taken  from  the  public 
works  and  put  to  labor  on  a  mill,  in  order  that  they  might  get 
flour.  No  respect  was  paid  to  persons,  and  cavalier  and  priest 
were  forced  into  the  common  service.  The  Admiral  was  obliged 
to  meet  the  necessities  by  compulsory  measures,  for  even  an 
obvious  need  did  not  prevent  the  indifferent  from  shirking,  and 
the  priest  and  hidalgo  from  asserting  their  privileged  rights. 
Any  authority  that  enforced  sacrifice  galled  the  proud  spirits, 
and  the  indignity  of  labor  caused  a  mortification  and  despair 
that  soon  thinned  the  ranks  of  the  best  blood  of  the  colony. 
Dying  voices  cursed  the  delusion  which  had  brought  them  to 
the  New  World,  the  victims,  as  they  claimed,  of  the  avarice 
and  deceit  of  a  hated  alien  to  their  race. 

Supineness  in  the  commander  would  have  brought  everything 
in  the  colony  to  a  disastrous  close.     A  steady  progression  of 
some  sort  might  be  remedial.     The  Admiral's  active  mind  de 
termined  on  the  diversion  of  further  exploration  with  such  a 
force  as  could  be  equipped.      He   mustered  a  little 
army,  consisting  of  250  men  armed  with  crossbows,   toJstase 
100  with  matchlocks,  16  mounted  lancemen,  and  20 
officers.     Ojeda  was  put  at  their  head,  with  orders  to  lead  them 


290  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

to  St.  Thomas,  which  post  he  was  to  govern  while  Margarite 
took  the  expeditionary  party  and  scoured  the  country.  Navar- 
rete  has  preserved  for  us  the  instructions  which  Columbus  im 
parted.  They  counseled  a  considerate  regard  for  the  natives, 
who  must,  however,  be  made  to  furnish  all  necessaries  at  fair 
prices.  Above  all,  every  Spaniard  must  be  prevented  from  en 
gaging  in  private  trade,  since  the  profits  of  such  bartering  were 
reserved  to  the  Crown,  and  it  did  not  help  Columbus  in  his  deal 
ings  with  the  refractory  colonists  to  have  it  known  that  a  for 
eign  interloper,  like  himself,  shared  this  profit  with  the  Crown. 
Margarite  was  also  told  that  he  must  capture,  by  force  or  strat 
agem,  the  cacique  Caonabo  and  his  brothers. 

When  Ojeda,  who  had  started  on  April  9,  reached  the  Vega 
1494.  Real,  he  learned  that  three  Spaniards,  returning  from 

April  9.  gk  Thomas,  had  been  robbed  by  a  party  of  Indians, 
people  of  a  neighboring  cacique.  Ojeda  seized  the  offenders, 
the  ears  of  one  of  whom  he  cut  off,  and  then  capturing  the 
cacique  himself  and  some  of  his  family,  he  sent  the  whole 
party  to  Isabella.  Columbus  took  prompt  revenge,  or  made 
the  show  of  doing  so ;  but  just  as  the  sentence  of  execution  was 
to  be  inflicted,  he  yielded  to  the  importunities  of  another  ca 
cique,  and  thought  to  keep  by  it  his  reputation  for  clemency. 
Presently  another  horseman  came  in  from  St.  Thomas,  who,  on 
his  way,  had  rescued,  single-handed  and  with  the  aid  of  the  ter 
ror  which  his  animal  inspired,  another  party  of  five  Spaniards, 
whom  he  had  found  in  the  hands  of  the  same  tribe. 

Such  easy  conquests  convinced  Columbus  that  only  proper 
prudence  was  demanded  to  maintain  the  Spanish  supremacy 
with  even  a  diminished  force.  He  had  not  forgotten  the  fears 
of  the  Portuguese  which  were  harassing  the  Spanish  Court 
when  he  left  Seville,  and,  to  anticipate  them,  he  was  anxious  to 
make  a  more  thorough  examination  of  Cuba,  which  was  a  part 
of  the  neighboring  main  of  Cathay,  as  he  was  ready  to  suppose. 
He  therefore  commissioned  a  sort  of  junto  to  rule,  while  in 
person  he  should  conduct  such  an  expedition  by  water.  His 
Diego  and  brother  Diego  was  placed  in  command  during  his  ab- 
the  junto.  Sence,  and  he  gave  him  for  counselors,  Father  Boyle, 
Pedro  Fernandez  Coronel,  Alonso  Sanchez  Carvajal,  and  Juan 
de  Luxan.  He  took  three  caravels,  the  smallest  of  his  little 
fleet,  as  better  suited  to  explore,  and  left  the  two  large  ones 
behind. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  291 

It  was  April  24  when  Columbus  sailed  from  Isabella,  and  at 
once  he  ran  westerly.  He  stopped  at  his  old  fort,  La  1494  April 
Navidad,  but  found  that  Guacanagari  avoided  him,  fu&  J^"^ 
and  no  time  could  be  lost  in  discovering  why.  On  the  Cuba* 
29th,  he  left  Espanola  behind  and  struck  across  to  the  Cuban 
shore.  Here,  following  the  southern  side  of  that  island,  he 
anchored  first  in  a  harbor  where  there  were  preparations  for 
a  native  feast;  but  the  people  fled  when  he  landed,  and  the 
not  overfed  Spaniards  enjoyed  the  repast  that  was  abandoned. 
The  Lucayan  interpreter,  who  was  of  the  party,  managed  after 
a  while  to  allure  a  single  Indian,  more  confident  than  the  rest, 
to  approach  ;  and  when  this  Cuban  learned  from  one  of  a  simi 
lar  race  the  peaceful  purposes  of  the  Spaniards,  he  went  and 
told  others,  and  so  in  a  little  while  Columbus  was  able  to  hold 
a  parley  with  a  considerable  group.  He  caused  reparation  to 
be  made  for  the  food  which  his  men  had  taken,  and  then  ex 
changed  farewells  with  the  astounded  folk. 

On   May  1,  he  raised   anchor,    and    coasted   still  westerly, 
keeping  near  the  shore.     The  country  grew  more  pop 
ulous.     The   amenities   of   his   intercourse   with   the  i.   Onthe 


feast-makers  had  doubtless  been  made  known  along 
the  coast,  and  as  a  result  he  was  easily  kept  supplied  with  fresh 
fruits  by  the  natives.  Their  canoes  constantly  put  off  from  the 
shore  as  the  ships  glided  by.  He  next  anchored  in  the  harbor 
which  was  probably  that  known  to-day  as  St.  Jago  de  Cuba, 
where  he  received  the  same  hospitality,  and  dispensed  the  same 
store  of  trinkets  in  return. 

Here,  as  elsewhere  along  the  route,  the  Lucayan  had  learned 
from  the  natives  that  a  great  island  lay  away  to  the  south,  which 
was  the  source  of  what  gold  they  had.     The  informa 
tion  was   too  frequently  repeated  to  be  casual,   and  3.^steersfor 
so,  on  May  3,  Columbus  boldly  stood  off  shore,  and 
brought  his  ships  to  a  course  due  south. 

It  was  not  long  before  thin  blue  films  appeared  on  the 
horizon.  They  deepened  and  grew  into  peaks.  It  was  two 
days  before  the  ships  were  near  enough  to  their  massive  forms 
to  see  the  signs  of  habitations  everywhere  scattered  along  the 
shore.  The  vessels  stood  in  close  to  the  land.  A  native  flotilla 
hovered  about,  at  first  with  menaces,  but  their  occupants  were 
soon  won  to  friendliness  by  kindly  signs.  Not  so,  however, 


292  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

in  the  harbor,  where,  on  the  next  day,  he  sought  shelter  and  an 
opportunity  to  careen  a  leaky  ship.  Here  the  shore  swarmed 
Natives  of  Wl^  painted  men,  and  some  canoes  with  feathered 
warriors  advanced  to  oppose  a  landing.  They  hurled 
their  javelins  without  effect,  and  filled  the  air  with  their 
screams  and  whoops.  Columbus  then  sent  in  his  boats  nearer 
the  shore  than  his  ships  could  go,  and  under  cover  of  a  dis 
charge  from  his  bombards  a  party  landed,  and  with  their  cross- 
A  dog  set  bows  put  the  Indians  to  flight.  Bernaldez  tells  that 
upon  them.  a  fog  wag  ^  ioose  UpOn  the  savages,  and  this  is  the 
earliest  mention  of  that  canine  warfare  which  the  Spaniards 
later  made  so  sanguinary.  Columbus  now  landed  and  took  pos- 
santiago  or  session  of  the  island  under  the  name  of  Santiago,  but 
Jamaica.  fae  name  did  not  supplant  the  native  Jamaica.  The 
warning  lesson  had  its  effect,  and  the  next  day  some  envoys  of 
the  cacique  of  the  region  made  offers  of  amity,  which  were 
readily  accepted.  For  three  days  this  friendly  intercourse  was 
kept  up,  with  the  customary  exchange  of  gifts.  The  Spaniards 
character  of  could  but  observe  a  marked  difference  in  the  character 
natives.  o£  tnjg  new  peOple.  They  were  more  martial  and  better 
sailors  than  any  they  had  seen  since  they  left  the  Carib  islands. 
The  enormous  mahogany-trees  of  the  islands  furnished  them 
with  trunks,  out  of  which  they  constructed  the  largest  canoes. 
Columbus  saw  one  which  was  ninety-six  feet  long  and  eight 
broad.  There  was  also  in  these  people  a  degree  of  merriment 
such  as  the  Spaniards  had  not  noticed  before,  more  docility 
and  quick  apprehension,  and  Peter  Martyr  gathered  from  those 
with  whom  he  had  talked  that  in  almost  all  ways  they  seemed 
a  manlier  and  experter  race.  Their  cloth,  utensils,  and  imple 
ments  were  of  a  character  not  differing  from  others  the  explorers 
had  seen,  but  of  better  handiwork. 

As  soon  as  he  floated  his  ship,  Columbus  again  stretched  his 
course  to  the  west,  finding  no  further  show  of  resistance.  The 
native  dugout  sallied  forth  to  trade  from  every  little  inlet  which 
was  passed.  Finally,  a  youth  came  off  and  begged  to  be  taken  to 
the  Spaniards'  home,  and  the  Historie  tells  us  that  it  was  not 
without  a  scene  of  distress  that  he  bade  his  kinsfolk  good-by, 
in  spite  of  all  their  endeavors  to  reclaim  him.  Columbus  was 
struck  with  the  courage  and  confidence  of  the  youth,  and  ordered 
special  kindnesses  to  be  shown  to  him.  We  hear  nothing  more 
of  the  lad. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  293 

Reaching  now  the  extreme  westerly  end  of  Jamaica,  and  find 
ing  the  wind  setting  right  for  Cuba,  Columbus  shifted 
his  course  thither,  and  bore  away  to  the  north.  On 
the  18th  of  May,  he  was  once  more  on  its  coast.  The  i494.  May 
people  were  everywhere  friendly.  They  told  him  that  18' 
Cuba  was  an  island,  but  of  such  extent  that  they  had  never 
seen  the  end  of  it.  This  did  not  convince  Columbus  that  it  was 
other  than  the  mainland.  So  he  went  on  towards  the  west,  in 
full  confidence  that  he  would  come  to  Cathay,  or  at  least,  such 
seemed  his  expectation.  He  presently  rounded  a  point,  and  saw 
before  him  a  large  archipelago.  He  was  now  at  that  point 
where  the  Cabo  de  la  Cruz  on  the  south  and  this  archipelago 
in  the  northwest  embay  a  broad  gulf.  The  islands  seemed  almost 
without  number,  and  they  studded  the  sea  with  verdant  spots. 
He  called  them  the  Queen's  Gardens.  He  could  get  The  QUeen^g 
better  seaway  by  standing  further  south,  and  so  pass  Gardens 
beyond  the  islands ;  but  suspecting  that  they  were  the  very 
islands  which  lay  in  masses  along  the  coast  of  Cathay,  as  Marco 
Polo  and  Mandeville  had  said,  he  was  prompted  to  risk  the  in 
tricacies  of  their  navigation  ;  so  he  clung  to  the  shore,  and  felt 
that  without  doubt  he  was  verging  on  the  territories  of  the  Great 
Khan.  He  began  soon  to  apprehend  his  risks.  The  channels 
were  devious.  The  shoals  perplexed  him.  There  was  often  no 
room  to  wear  ship,  and  the  boats  had  to  tow  the  caravels  at 
intervals  to  clearer  water.  They  could  not  proceed  at  all  with 
out  throwing  the  lead.  The  wind  was  capricious,  and  whirled 
round  the  compass  with  the  sun.  Sudden  tempests  threatened 
danger. 

With  all  this  anxiety,  there  was  much  to  beguile.  Every  as 
pect  of  nature  was  like  the  descriptions  of  the  East  in  the  trav 
elers'  tales.  The  Spaniards  looked  for  inhabitants,  but  none 
were  to  be  seen.  At  last  they  espied  a  village  on  one  of  the 
islands,  but  on  landing  (May  22),  not  a  soul  could  be  found,  — 
only  the  spoils  of  the  sea  which  a  fishing  people  would  be  likely 
to  gather.  Another  day,  they  met  a  canoe  from  which  some 
natives  were  fishing.  The  men  came  on  board  without  trepida 
tion  and  gave  the  Spaniards  what  fish  they  wanted.  They  had 
a  wonderful  way  of  catching  fish.  They  used  a  live  fish  much 
as  a  falcon  is  used  in  catching  its  quarry.  This  fish  would 
fasten  itself  to  its  prey  by  suckers  growing  about  the  head. 


294  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  native  fishermen  let  it  out  with  a  line  attached  to  its  tail, 
and  pulled  in  both  the  catcher  and  the  caught  when  the  prey 
had  been  seized.  These  people  also  told  the  same  story  of  the 
interminable  extent  westerly  of  the  Cuban  coast. 

Columbus  now  passed  out  from  among  these  islands  and 
steered  towards  a  mountainous  region,  where  he  again  landed 
1494.  and  opened  intercourse  with  a  pacific  tribe  on  June  3. 

An  old  cacique  repeated  the  same  story  of  the  illim 
itable  land,  and  referred  to  the  province  of  Mangon  as  lying 
farther  west.  This  name  was  enough  to  rekindle  the  imagina 
tion  of  the  Admiral.  Was  not  Mangi  the  richest  of  the  prov 
inces  that  Sir  John  Mandeville  had  spoken  of?  He  learned 
Men  with  also  that  a  people  with  tails  lived  there,  just  as  that 
veracious  narrator  had  described,  and  they  wore  long 
garments  to  conceal  that  appendage.  What  a  sight  a  proces 
sion  of  these  Asiatics  would  make  in  another  reception  at  the 
Spanish  Court ! 

There  was  nothing  now  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  cara 
vels,  and  on  the  vessels  went  in  their  westward  course.  Every 
day  the  crews  got  fresh  fruits  from  the  friendly  canoes.  They 
paid  nothing  for  the  balmy  odors  from  the  land.  They  next 
GUM  of  came  to  the  Gulf  of  Xagua,  and  passing  this  they 
xagua.  again  sailed  into  shallow  waters,  whitened  with  the 
floating  sand,  which  the  waves  kept  in  suspension.  The  course 
of  the  ships  was  tortuous  among  the  bars,  and  they  felt  relieved 
when  at  last  they  found  a  place  where  their  anchors  would  hold. 
To  make  sure  that  a  way  through  this  labyrinth  could  be  found, 
Columbus  sent  his  smallest  caravel  ahead,  and  then  following  her 
guidance,  the  little  fleet,  with  great  difficulty,  and  not  without 
much  danger  at  times,  came  out  into  clearer  water.  Later,  he 
saw  a  deep  bay  on  his  right,  and  tacking  across  the  opening  he 
lay  his  course  for  some  distant  mountains.  Here  he  anchored 
to  replenish  his  water-casks.  An  archer  straying  into  the  forest 
white-robed  came  back  on  the  run,  saying  that  he  had  seen  white- 
robed  people.  Here,  then,  thought  Columbus,  were 
the  people  who  were  concealing  their  tails !  He  sent  out  two 
parties  to  reconnoitre.  They  found  nothing  but  a  tangled  wil 
derness.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  timorous  and  credu 
lous  archer  had  got  half  a  sight  of  a  flock  of  white  cranes  feed 
ing  in  a  savanna.  Such  is  the  interpretation  of  this  story  by 


THE   SECOND    VOYAGE.  295 

Irving,  and  Humboldt  tells  us  there  is  enough  in  his  experience 
with  the  habits  of  these  birds  to  make  it  certain  that  the  inter 
pretation  is  warranted. 

Still  the  Admiral  went  on  westerly,  opening  communication 
occasionally  with  the  shore,  but  to  little  advantage  in  gathering 
information,  for  the  expedition  had  gone  beyond  the  range  of 
dialects  where  the  Lucayan  interpreter  could  be  of  service. 
The  shore  people  continued  to  point  west,  and  the  most  that 
could  be  made  of  their  signs  was  that  a  powerful  king  reigned 
in  that  direction,  and  that  he  wore  white  robes.  This  is  the 
story  as  Bernaldez  gives  it ;  and  Columbus  very  likely  thought 
it  a  premonition  of  Prester  John.  The  coast  still  stretched  to 
the  setting  sun,  if  Columbus  divined  the  native  signs  aright,  but 
no  one  could  tell  how  far.  The  sea  again  became  shallow,  and 
the  keels  of  the  caravels  stirred  up  the  bottom.  The  accounts 
speak  of  wonderful  crowds  of  tortoises  covering  the  water,  pi 
geons  darkening  the  sky,  and  gaudy  butterflies  sweeping  about 
in  clouds.  The  shore  was  too  low  for  habitation  ;  but  they  saw 
smoke  and  other  signs  of  life  in  the  high  lands  of  the  Coiumbus 
interior.  When  the  coast  line  began  to  trend  to  the  loathe be 
southwest,  —  it  was  Marco  Polo  who  said  it  would,  —  chersone- 
there  could  be  little  doubt  that  the  Golden  Chersonesus  SUS) 
of  the  ancients,  which  we  know  to-day  as  the  Malacca  penin 
sula,  must  be  beyond. 

What  next?  was  the  thought  which  passed  through  the 
fevered  brain  of  the  Admiral.*  He  had  an  answer  in  his  mind, 
and  it  would  make  a  new  sensation  for  his  poor  colony  at  Isa 
bella  to  hear  of  him  in  Spain.  Passing  the  Golden  Chersone 
sus,  had  he  not  the  alternative  of  steering  homeward  bywhich  he 
by  way  of  Ceylon  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  ^^0Te' 
so  astound  the  Portuguese  more  than  he  did  when  he  Spam' 
entered  the  Tagus  ?  Or,  abandoning  the  Indian  Ocean  and 
entering  the  Red  Sea,  could  he  not  proceed  to  its  northern  ex 
tremity,  and  there,  deserting  his  ships,  join  a  caravan  passing 
through  Jerusalem  and  Jaffa,  and  so  embark  again  on  the 
Mediterranean  and  sail  into  Barcelona,  a  more  wonderful  ex 
plorer  than  before  ? 

These  were  the  sublimating  thoughts  that  now  buoyed  the 
Admiral,  as  he  looked  along  the  far-stretching  coast,  —  or  at 
least  his  friend  Bernaldez  got  this  impression  from  his  inter 
course  with  Columbus  after  his  return  to  Spain. 


296  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

If  the  compliant  spirit  of  his  crew  had  not  been  exhausted, 
HIS  crew  ne  would  perhaps  have  gone  on,  and  would  have  been 
forced  by  developments  to  a  revision  of  his  geographi 
cal  faith.  His  vessels,  unfortunately,  were  strained  in  all  their 
seams.  Their  leaks  had  spoiled  his  provisions.  Incessant  la 
bor  had  begun  to  tell  upon  the  health  of  the  crew.  They  much 
preferred  the  chances  of  a  return  to  Isabella,  with  all  its  haz 
ards,  than  a  sight  of  Jaffa  and  the  Mediterranean,  with  the  un 
told  dangers  of  getting  there. 

The  Admiral,  however,  still  pursued  his  course  for  a  few 
days  more  to  a  point,  as  Humboldt  holds,  opposite  the  St. 
Philip  Keys,  when,  finding  the  coast  trending  sharply  to  the 
southwest,  and  his  crew  becoming  clamorous,  he  determined  to 
go  no  farther. 

It  was  now  the  12th  of  June,  1494,  and  if  we  had  nothing  but 
the  Historic  to  guide  us,  we  should  be  ignorant  of  the 
12.  Returns  singular  turn  which  affairs  took.  Whoever  wrote  that 
book  had,  by  the  time  it  was  written,  become  conscious 
that  obliviousness  was  sometimes  necessary  to  preserve  the  rep 
utation  of  the  Admiral.  The  strange  document  which  inter 
ests  us,  however,  has  not  been  lost,  and  we  can  read  it  in 
Navarrete. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  disquietude  of  Columbus's 
mind.  He  had  determined  to  find  Cathay  as  a  counterpoise  to 
the  troubled  conditions  at  Isabella,  both  to  assuage  the  gloomy 
forebodings  of  the  colonists  and  to  reassure  the  public  mind  in 
Spain,  which  might  receive,  as  he  knew,  a  shock  by  the  reports 
which  Torres's  fleet  had  carried  to  Europe.  He  had  been  forced 
by  a  mutinous  crew  to  a  determination  to  turn  back,  but  his  dis 
contented  companions  might  be  complacent  enough  to  express 
an  opinion,  if  not  complacent  enough  to  run  farther  hazards. 
So  Columbus  committed  himself  to  the  last  resort  of  deluded 
minds,  when  dealing  with  geographical  or  historical  problems, 
—  that  of  seeking  to  establish  the  truth  by  building  monu 
ments,  placing  inscriptions,  and  certifications  under  oath.  He 
caused  the  eighty  men  who  constituted  the  crew  of 
oath  upon  his  little  squadron  —  and  we  find  their  name  in  Duro's 
Colon  y  Pinzon  —  to  swear  before  a  notary  that  it 
was  possible  to  go  from  Cuba  to  Spain  by  land,  across  Asia.  It 
was  solemnly  affirmed  by  this  official  that  if  any  should  swerve 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  297 

from  this  belief,  the  miserable  skeptic,  if  an  officer,  should  be 
fined  10,000  maravedis ;  and  if  a  sailor,  he  should  receive  a  hun 
dred  lashes  and  have  his  tongue  pulled  out.     Such  were  the 
scarcely  heroic  measures  that  Columbus  thought  it  necessary  to 
employ  if  he  would  dispel  any  belief  that  all  these  islands  of 
the  Indies  were  but  an  ocean  archipelago  after  all,  and  that  the 
width  of  the  unknown  void  between  Europe  and  Asia,  which  he 
was  so  confident  he  had  traversed,  was  yet  undetermined.     To 
make  Cuba  a  continent  by  affidavit  was  easy  ;  to  make 
it  appear  the  identical  kingdom  of  the  Great  Khan,  is  a  con- a 
he  hoped  would  follow.     During  his  first  voyage,  so 
far  as  he  could  make  out  an  intelligible  statement  from  what 
the  natives  indicated,  he  was  of  the  opinion  that  Cuba  was  an 
island.     It  is  to  be  feared  that  he  had  now  reached  a  state  of 
mind  in  which  he  did  not  dare  to  think  it  an  island. 

If  we  believe  the  Historic,  —  or  some  passages  in  it,  at  least, 
—  written,  as  we  know,  after  the  geography  of  the  New  World 
was  fairly  understood,  and  if  we  accept  the  evidence  of  the 
copyist,  Herrera,  Columbus  never  really  supposed  he  was  in 
Asia.  If  this  is  true,  he  took  marvelous  pains  to  deceive  others 
by  appearing  to  be  deceived  himself,  as  this  notarial  exhibition 
and  his  solemn  asseveration  to  the  Pope  in  1502  show.  The 
writers  just  cited  say  that  he  simply  juggled  the  world  by  giv 
ing  the  name  India  to  these  regions,  as  better  suited  to  allure 
emigration.  Such  testimony,  if  accepted,  establishes  the  fraud 
ulent  character  of  these  notarial  proceedings.  It  is  fair  to  say, 
however,  that  he  wrote  to  Peter  Martyr,  just  after  the  return  of 
the  caravels  to  Isabella,  expressing  a  confident  belief  in  his 
having  come  near  to  the  region  of  the  Ganges ;  and  divesting 
the  testimony  of  all  the  jugglery  with  which  others  have  invested 
it,  there  seems  little  doubt  that  in  this  belief,  at  least,  Colum 
bus  was  sincere. 

On  the  next  day,  Columbus,  standing  to  the  southeast,  reached 
a  large  island,  the  present  Isle  of  Pines,  which  he   1494  June 
called  Evangelista.     In  endeavoring  to  skirt  it  on  the  13' 
south,  he  was  entangled  once  more  in  a  way  that  made  him  aban 
don  the  hope  of  a  directer  passage  to  Espanola  that  way,  and 
to  resolve  to  follow  the  coast  back  as  he  had  come.    He  lost  ten 
days  in  these  uncertain  efforts,  which,  with  his  provisions  rap- 


298 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  299 

idly  diminishing,  did  not  conduce  to  reassure  his  crew.  On  June 
30,  trying  to  follow  the  intricacies  of  the  channels  1494  June 
which  had  perplexed  him  before,  the  Admiral's  ship  30> 
got  a  severe  thump  on  the  bottom,  which  for  a  while  threatened 
disaster.  She  was  pulled  through,  however,  by  main  force,  and 
after  a  while  was  speeding  east  in  clear  water.  They  had  now 
sailed  beyond  those  marshy  reaches  of  the  coast,  where  they  were 
cut  off  from  intercourse  with  the  shore,  and  hoped  soon  to  find 
a  harbor,  where  food  and  rest  might  restore  the  strength  of  the 
crew.  Their  daily  allowance  had  been  reduced  to  a  pound  of 
mouldy  bread  and  a  swallow  or  two  of  wine.  It  was  the  1494 
7th  of  July  when  they  anchored  in  an  acceptable  harbor.  July  7 
Here  they  landed,  and  interchanged  the  customary  pledges  of 
amity  with  a  cacique  who  presented  himself  on  the  shore. 
Men  having  been  sent  to  cut  down  some  trees,  a  large  cross  was 
made,  and  erected  in  a  grove,  and  on  this  spot,  with  a  crowd  of 
natives  looking  on,  the  Spaniard  celebrated  high  mass.  A  ven 
erable  Indian,  who  watched  all  the  ceremonials  with  close  atten 
tion,  divining  their  religious  nature,  made  known  to  the  Admiral, 
through  the  Lucayan  interpreter,  something  of  the  sustaining 
belief  of  his  own  people,  in  words  that  were  impressive.  Co- 
lumbus's  confidence  in  the  incapacity  of  the  native  mind  for 
such  high  conceptions  as  this  poor  Indian  manifested  received 
a  grateful  shock  when  the  old  man,  grave  in  his  manner  and  un 
conscious  in  his  dignity,  pictured  the  opposite  rewards  of  the 
good  and  bad  in  another  world.  Then  turning  to  the  Admiral, 
he  reminded  him  that  wrong  upon  the  unoffending  was  no  pass 
port  to  the  blessings  of  the  future.  The  historian  who  tells  us 
this  story,  and  recounts  how  it  impressed  the  Admiral,  does  not 
say  that  its  warnings  troubled  him  much  in  the  times  to  come, 
when  the  unoffending  were  grievously  wronged.  Perhaps  there 
was  something  of  this  forgetful  spirit  in  the  taking  of  a  young 
Indian  away  from  his  friends,  as  the  chroniclers  say  he  did, 
in  this  very  harbor. 

On  July  16,  Columbus  left  the  harbor,  and  steering  off  shore 
to  escape  the  intricate  channels  of  the  Queen's  Gar-  1494    July 
dens  which  he  was  now  re-approaching,  he  soon  found  16- 
searoom,  and  bore  away  toward  Espanola.     A  gale  coming  on, 
the  caravels  were  forced  in  shore,  and  discovered  an  1494    July 
anchorage  under  Cabo  de  Cruz.     Here  they  remained  18 


300  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

for  three  days,  but  the  wind  still  blowing  from  the  east,  Colum^ 
bus  thought  it  a  good  opportunity  to  complete  the  circuit  of 
on  the  coast  Jamaica.  He  accordingly  stood  across  towards  that 
of  Jamaica,  ig^^  jje  was  a  mOnth  in  beating  to  the  eastward 
along  its  southern  coast,  for  the  winds  were  very  capricious. 
Every  night  he  anchored  under  the  land,  and  the  natives  sup 
plied  him  with  provisions.  At  one  place,  a  cacique  presented 
1  himself  in  much  feathered  finery,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and 
relatives,  with  a  retinue  bedizened  in  the  native  fashion,  and 
doing  homage  to  the  Admiral.  It  was  shown  how  effective  the 
Lucayan's  pictures  of  Spanish  glory  and  prowess  had  been, 
when  the  cacique  proposed  to  put  himself  and  all  his  train  in 
the  Admiral's  charge  for  passage  to  the  great  country  of  the 
Spanish  King.  The  offer  was  rather  embarrassing  to  the  Ad 
miral,  with  his  provisions  running  low,  and  his  ships  not  of  the 
largest.  He  relieved  himself  by  promising  to  conform  to  the 
wishes  of  the  cacique  at  a  more  opportune  moment. 

By  the  19th  of  August,  Columbus  had  passed  the  easternmost 
1494.  extremity  of  Jamaica,  and  on  the  next  day  he  was 

August  19.  skirting  the  long  peninsula  which  juts  from  the  south 
western  angle  of  Espaffola.  He  was  not,  however,  aware  of 
EspaSoia.  ^is  position  till  on  the  23d  a  cacique  came  off  to  the 
1494.  caravels,  and  addressed  Columbus  by  his  title,  with 

August  23.  some  words  of  Castilian  interlarded  in  his  speech.  It 
was  now  made  clear  that  the  ships  had  nearly  reached  their 
goal,  and  nothing  was  left  but  to  follow  the  circuit  of  the  isl 
and.  It  was  no  easy  task  to  do  so  with  a  wornout  crew  and 
crazy  ships.  The  little  fleet  was  separated  in  a  gale,  and  when 
Columbus  made  the  lofty  rocky  island  which  is  now 
known  as  Alto  Velo,  resembling  as  it  does  in  outline 
a  tall  ship  under  sail,  he  ran  under  its  lee,  and  sent  a  boat 
)  ashore,  with  orders  for  the  men  to  scale  its  heights,  to  learn  if 
the  missing  caravels  were  anywhere  to  be  seen.  This  endeavor 
was  without  result,  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  fleet  was  re 
united.  Further  on,  the  Admiral  learned  from  the  natives  that 
some  of  the  Spaniards  had  been  in  that  part  of  the  island, 
coming  from  the  other  side.  Finding  thus  through  the  native 
reports  that  all  was  quiet  at  Isabella,  he  landed  nine  men  to 
push  across  the  island  and  report  his  coming.  Somewhat  fur 
ther  to  the  east,  a  storm  impending,  he  found  a  harbor,  where 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  301 

the  weather  forced  him  to  remain  for  eight  days.  The  Admi 
ral's  vessel  had  succeeded  in  entering  a  roadstead,  but  the  others 
lay  outside,  buffeting  the  storm,  — •  naturally  a  source  of  constant 
anxiety  to  him. 

It  was  while  in  this  suspense  that  Columbus  took  advantage 
of  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  to  ascertain  his  longitude.   Coiumbu8 
His  calculations  made  him  five  hours  and  a  half  west  ecilps^of 
of  Seville,  —  an  hour  and  a  quarter  too  much,  making  the  moon- 
an  error  of  eighteen  degrees.     This  mistake  was  quite  as  likely 
owing  to  the  rudeness  of  his  method  as  to  the  pardonable  errors 
of  the  lunar  tables  of  Regiomontanus  (Venice,  1492),  then  in 
use.     These  tables  followed  methods  which  had  more  or  less 
controlled  calculations  from  the  time  of  Hipparchus. 

The  error  of  Columbus  is  not  surprising.  Even  a  century 
later,  when  Robert  Hues  published  his  treatise  on  the  Moli- 
neaux  globe  (1592),  the  difficulties  were  in  large  part  uncon 
trollable.  "  The  most  certain  of  all  for  this  purpose,"  says  this 
mathematician,  "  is  confessed  by  all  writers  to  be  by  eclipses  of 
the  moon.  But  now  these  eclipses  happen  but  seldom,  but  are 
more  seldom  seen,  yet  most  seldom  and  in  very  few  places  ob 
served  by  the  skillful  artists  in  this  science.  So  that  there  are 
but  few  longitudes  of  places  designed  out  by  this  means.  But 
this  is  an  uncertain  and  ticklish  way,  and  subject  to  many  diffi 
culties.  Others  have  gone  other  ways  to  work,  as,  namely,  by 
observing  the  space  of  the  equinoctial  hours  betwixt  the  meri 
dians  of  two  places,  which  they  conceive  may  be  taken  by  the 
help  of  sundials,  or  clocks,  or  hourglasses,  either  with  water  or 
sand  or  the  like.  But  all  these  conceits,  long  since  devised,  hav 
ing  been  more  strictly  and  accurately  examined,  have  been  dis 
allowed  and  rejected  by  all  learned  men  —  at  least  those  of 
riper  judgments  —  as  being  altogether  unable  to  perform  that 
which  is  required  of  them.  I  shall  not  stand  here  to  discover 
the  errors  and  uncertainties  of  these  instrumentSo  Away  with 
all  such  trifling,  cheating  rascals  !  " 

The  weather  moderating,  Columbus  stood  out  of  the  channel 
of  Saona  on  September  24,  and  meeting  the  other  car-  1494    gep. 
avels,  which  had  weathered  the  storm,  he  still  steered  tember  24- 
to  the  east.     They  reached  the  farthest  end  of  Espanola  oppo 
site  Porto  Rico,  and  ran  out  to  the  island   of  Mona,  in  the 
channel  between  the  two  larger  islands.     Shortly  after  leaving 


302  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Mona,  Columbus,  worn  with  the  anxieties  of  a  five  months' 
voyage,  in  which  his  nervous  excitement  and  high  hopes  had 
sustained  him  wonderfully,  began  to  feel  the  reaction.  His 
near  approach  to  Isabella  accelerated  this  recoil,  till  his  whole 
system  suddenly  succumbed.  He  lay  in  a  stupor,  knowing 
little,  remembering  nothing,  his  eyes  dim  and  vitality 
oozing.  Under  other  command,  the  little  fleet  sorrow 


fully,  but  gladly,  entered  the  harbor  of  Isabella. 
Our  most  effective   source  for  the  history  of   this  striking 
cruise  is  the  work  of  Bernaldez,  already  referred  to, 

Harrisse  has  recently  (1892)  brought  forward  a  contemporary  manu 
script  account  of  the  second  voyage,  lately  discovered  in  the  library  of  the 
University  of  Bologna.  Its  author,  Michael  de  Cuneo,  was  one  of  the 
eighty  unfortunates  who  took,  at  Columbus's  bidding,  the  oath  that  they  had 
reached  the  coast  of  Asia.  Cuneo  says  that  a  "  majority  "  thus  perjured 
themselves  under  the  threats  of  the  Admiral,  and  that  a  certain  learned 
cosmographer  among  them  was  so  pronounced  in  his  distrust  that  Columbus 
took  steps  to  prevent  his  returning  to  Spain,  lest  he  might  prejudice  the 
Admiral's  interests. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   SECOND  VOYAGE,  CONTINUED. 

1494-1496. 

IT  was  the  29th  of  September,  1494,  when  the  "  Nina,"  with 
the  senseless  Admiral  on  board,  and  her  frail  consorts   1494    Sep_ 
stood  into  the  harbor  of  Isabella.     Taken  ashore,  the  oSuSbXin 
sick  man  found  no  restorative  like  the  presence  of  his  IsabeUa- 
brother  Bartholomew,  who  had  reached  Isabella  during  the  Ad 
miral's  absence.  Finds  Bar. 

Several  years  had  elapsed  since  the  two  congenial  "SSua 
brothers  had  parted.     We  have  seen  that  this  brother  there- 
had  probably  been  with  Bartholomew   Diaz  when  he  discov 
ered  the  African  cape.     It  is  supposed,  from  the  inscriptions 
on  it,  that  the  map  delivered  by  Bartholomew  to  Henry  VII. 
had  shown  the  results  of  Diaz's  discoveries.     This  chart  had 
been  taken  to  England,  when  Bartholomew  had  gone  thither, 
to   engage  the   interest  of  Henry  VII.  in  Columbus's  behalf. 
There  is  some  obscurity  about  the  movements  of  Bartholomew 
at  this    time,  but  there    is  thought    by  some  to  be 

J  Bartholo- 

reason  to  believe    that    he  finally   got  sufficient    en-  mew's  career 

J      to  in  England. 

couragement  from  that  Tudor  prince  to  start  for 
Spain  with  offers  for  his  brother.  The  Historie  tells  us  that 
the  propositions  of  Bartholomew  were  speedily  accepted  by 
Henry,  and  this  statement  prevails  in  the  earlier  English 
writers,  like  Hakluyt  and  Bacon ;  but  Oviedo  says  the  scheme 
was  derided,  and  Geraldini  says  it  was  declined.  Bartholomew 
reached  Paris  just  at  the  time  when  word  had  come  there  of 
Columbus's  return  from  his  first  voyage.  His  kinship  to  the 
Admiral,  and  his  own  expositions  of  the  geographical  problem 
then  attracting  so  much  attention,  drew  him  within  the  influ 
ence  of  the  French  court,  and  Charles  VIII.  is  said  to  have  fur 
nished  him  the  means  —  as  Bartholomew  was  then  low  in  purse 


304  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

—  to  pursue  his  way  to  Spain.  He  was,  however,  too  late  to 
see  the  Admiral,  who  had  already  departed  from  Cadiz  on  this 
second  voyage.  Finding  that  it  had  been  arranged  for  his 
brother's  sons  to  be  pages  at  Court,  he  sought  them,  and  in  com 
pany  with  them  he  presented  himself  before  the  Spanish  mon- 
archs  at  Valladolid.  These  sovereigns  were  about  fit 
ting  out  a  supply  fleet  for  Espanola,  and  Bartholomew 
was  put  in  command  of  an  advance  section  of  it.  Sailing  from 
Cadiz  on  April  30,  1494,  with  three  caravels,  he  reached  Isa 
bella  on  St.  John's  Day,  after  the  Admiral  had  left  for  his 
western  cruise. 

If  it  was  prudent  for  Columbus  to  bring  another  foreigner  to 
his  aid,  he  found  in  Bartholomew  a  fitter  and  more  courageous 
spirit  than  Diego  possessed.  The  Admiral  was  pretty  sure  now 
Hischarac-  *°  have  an  active  and  fearless  deputy,  sterner,  indeed, 
in  his  habitual  bearing  than  Columbus,  and  with  a  har 
dihood  both  of  spirit  and  body  that  fitted  him  for  command. 
These  qualities  were  not  suited  to  pacify  the  haughty  hidalgos, 
but  they  were  merits  which  rendered  him  able  to  confront  the 
discontent  of  all  settlers,  and  gave  him  the  temper  to  stand 
in  no  fear  of  them.  He  brought  to  the  government  of  an  ill- 
assorted  community  a  good  deal  that  the  Admiral  lacked.  He 
was  soberer  in  his  imagination  ;  not  so  prone  to  let  his  wishes 
figure  the  future ;  more  practiced,  if  we  may  believe  Las  Casas, 
in  the  arts  of  composition,  and  able  to  speak  and  write  much 
more  directly  and  comprehensibly  than  his  brother.  He  man 
aged  men  better,  and  business  proceeded  more  regularly  under 
his  control,  and  he  contrived  to  save  what  was  possible  from  the 
wreck  of  disorder  into  which  his  brother's  unfitness  for  com 
mand  had  thrown  the  colony.  This  is  the  man  whom  Las  Casas 
enables  us  to  understand,  through  the  traits  of  character  which 
created  ^e  depicts.  Columbus  was  now  to  create  this  brother 
Adelantado.  fas  representative,  in  certain  ways,  with  the  title  of 
Adelantado. 

It  was  also  no  small  satisfaction  to  the  Admiral,  in  his  present 
weakness,  to  learn  of  the  well-being  of  his  children,  and  of  the 
continued  favor  with  which  he  was  held  at  Court,  little  antici 
pating  the  resentment  of  Ferdinand  that  an  office  of  the  rank  of 
Adelantado  should  be  created  by  any  delegated  authority.  Co 
lumbus  had  pursued  his  recent  explorations  in  some  measure 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  305 

to  forestall  what  he  feared  the  Portuguese  might  be  led  to 
attempt  in  the  same  direction,  for  he  had  not  been  unaware  of 
the  disturbance  in  the  court  at  Lisbon  which  the  papal  line  of 
demarcation  had  created.  He  was  glad  now  to  learn  from  his 
brother  that  his  own  fleet  had  hardly  got  to  sea  from  Cadiz,  in 
September,  1493,  when  the  Pope,  by  another  bull  on  the  26th  of 
that  month,  had  declared  that  all  countries  of  the  eastern  Indies 
which  the  Spaniards  might  find,  in  case  they  were  not  already 
in  Christian  hands,  should  be  included  in  the  grant  made  to 
Spain.  This  Bull  of  Extension,  as  it  was  called,  was  papaiBuiiof 
a  new  thorn  in  the  side  of  Portugal,  and  time  would  Extension- 
reveal  its  effect.  Alexander  had  resisted  all  importunities  to 
recede  from  his  position,  taken  in  May. 

Let  us  look  now  at  what  had  happened  in  Espanola  during 
the  absence  of  Columbus ;  but  in  the  first  place,  we 
must  mark  out  the  native  division  of  the  island  with  Espanola 
whose  history  Columbus's  career  is  so  associated.    Just  aSeS-eof 
back  of  Isabella,  and  about  the  Vega  Real,  whose  be 
wildering  beauties  of  grove  and  savanna  have  excited  the  ad 
miration  of  modern   visitors,  lay  the   territory  tributary  to  a 
cacique  named  Guarionex,  which  was  bounded   south  by  the 
Cibao  gold  mountains.     South  of  these  interior  ridges  and  ex 
tending  to  the  southern  shore  of  the  island  lay  the  region  (Ma- 
guana)  of  the  most  warlike  of  all  the  native  princes,  Caonabo, 
whose  wife,  Anacaona,  was  a  sister  of  Behechio,  who  governed 
Xaragua,  as  the  larger  part  of  the  southern  coast,  westward  of 
Caonabo' s  domain,  including  the  long  southwestern  peninsula, 
was  called.     The  northeastern  part  of  the  island  (Marien)  was 
subject  to  Guacanagari,  the  cacique  neighboring  to  La  Navi- 
dad.     The  eastern  end  (Higuay)  of  the  island  was  under  the 
domination  of  a  chief  named  Cotabanana. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  before  starting  for  Cuba  the 
Admiral  had  equipped  an  expedition,  which,  when  it  arrived  at 
St.  Thomas,  was  to  be  consigned  to  the  charge  of  Pedro  Mar- 
garite.  This  officer  had  instructions  to  explore  the  mountains 
of  Cibao,  and  map  out  its  resources.  He  was  not  to  harass  the 
natives  by  impositions,  but  he  was  to  make  them  fear  his 
power.  It  was  also  his  business  to  avoid  reducing  the  colony's 
supplies  by  making  the  natives  support  this  exploring  force. 


306 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


If  he  could  not  get  this  support  by  fair  means,  he  was  to  use 
foul   means.     Such  instructions   were  hazardous  enough ;  but 


Margarite  was  not  the  man  to  soften  their  application.  He 
had  even  failed  to  grasp  the  spirit  of  the  instructions  which 
had  been  given  by  Columbus  to  ensnare  Caonabo,  which  were 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  307 

"as  thoroughly  base  and  treacherous  as  could  well  be  imag 
ined,"  says  Helps,  and  the  reader  can  see  them  in  Navarrete. 

This  commander  had  spent  his  time  mainly  among  the  luxu 
rious  scenes  of  the  Vega  Real,  despoiling  its  tribes  of  their  pro 
visions,  and  squandering  the  energies  of  his  men  in  sensual 
diversions.  The  natives,  who  ought  to  have  been  his  helpers, 
became  irritated  at  his  extortions  and  indignant  at  the  invasion 
of  their  household  happiness.  The  condition  in  the  tribes  which 
this  riotous  conduct  had  induced  looked  so  threatening  that 
Diego  Columbus,  as  president  of  the  council,  wrote  to  Margarite 
in  remonstrance,  and  reminded  him  of  the  Admiral's  instruc 
tions  to  explore  the  mountains. 

The  haughty  Spaniard,  taking  umbrage  at  what  he  deemed 
an  interference  with  his  independent  command,  read 
ily  lent  himself  to  the  faction  inimical  to  Columbus. 
With  his  aid  and  with  that  of  Father  Boyle,  a  brother  Catalo- 
nian,  who  had  proved  false  to  his  office  as  a  member  of  the 
ruling  council  and  even  finally  disregardful  of  the  royal  wishes 
that  he  should  remain  in  the  colony,  an  uneasy  party  was  soon 
banded  together  in  Isabella.  The  modern  French  canonizers, 
in  order  to  reconcile  the  choice  by  the  Pope  of  this  recusant 
priest,  claim  that  his  Holiness,  or  the  king  for  him,  confounded 
a  Benedictine  and  Franciscan  priest  of  the  same  name,  and 
that  the  Benedictine  was  an  unlucky  changeling —  perhaps  even 
purposely  —  for  the  true  monk  of  the  Franciscans. 

In  the  face  of  Diego,  this  cabal  found  little  difficulty  in 
planning  to  leave  the  island  for  Spain  in  the  ships  which  had 
come  with  Bartholomew  Columbus.  Diego  had  no  power  to 
meet  with  compulsion  the  defiance  of  these  mutineers,  and  was 
subjected  to  the  sore  mortification  of  seeing  the  rebels  sail  out 
of  the  harbor  for  Spain.  There  was  left  to  Diego,  however, 
some  satisfaction  in  feeling  that  such  dangerous  ringleaders 
were  gone  ;  but  it  was  not  unaccompanied  with  anxiety  to  know 
what  effect  their  representations  would  have  at  Court.  A  like 
anxiety  now  became  poignant  in  the  Admiral's  mind,  on  his  re 
turn. 

The  stories  which  Diego  and  Bartholomew  were  compelled  to 
tell  Columbus  of  the  sequel  of  this  violent  abandonment  of  the 
colony  were  sad  ones.  The  license  which  Pedro  Margarite  had 
permitted  became  more  extended,  when  the  little  armed  force 


308  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

of  the  colony  found  itself  without  military  restraint.  It  soon 
disbanded  in  large  part,  and  lawless  squads  of  soldiers  were 
scattered  throughout  the  country,  wherever  passion  or  avarice 
could  find  anything  to  prey  upon.  The  long-suffering  Indians 
soon  reached  the  limits  of  endurance.  A  few  acts  of  vengeance 
encouraged  them  to  commit  others,  and  everywhere  small  par 
ties  of  the  Spaniards  were  cut  off  as  they  wandered  about  for 
food  and  lustful  conquests.  The  inhabitants  of  villages  turned 
upon  such  stragglers  as  abused  their  hospitalities.  Houses 
where  they  sheltered  themselves  were  fired.  Detached  posts 
were  besieged. 

While  this  condition  prevailed,  Caonabo  planned  to  surprise 
Fort  St.  Thomas.  Ojeda,  here  in  control  with  fifty 
FortTst?  an  men,  commanded  about  the  only  remnant  of  the  Span 
ish  forces  which  acknowledged  the  discipline  of  a 
competent  leader.  The  vigilant  Ojeda  did  not  fail  to  get  in 
telligence  of  Caonabo's  intentions.  He  made  new  vows  to  the 
Virgin,  before  an  old  Flemish  picture  of  Our  Lady  which  hung 
in  his  chamber  in  the  fort,  and  which  never  failed  to  encourage 
him,  wherever  he  tarried  or  wherever  he  strayed.  Every  man 
was  under  arms,  and  every  eye  was  alert,  when  their  commander, 
as  great  in  spirit  as  he  was  diminutive  in  stature,  marshaled 
his  fifty  men  along  his  ramparts,  as  Caonabo  with  his  horde 
of  naked  warriors  advanced  to  surprise  him.  The  outraged  ca 
cique  was  too  late.  No  unclothed  natives  dared  to  come  within 
range  of  the  Spanish  crossbows  and  arquebuses.  Ojeda  met 
every  artful  and  stealthy  approach  by  a  sally  that  dropped  the 
bravest  of  Caonabo's  warriors. 

The  cacique  next  tried  to  starve  the  Spaniards  out.  His 
parties  infested  every  path,  and  if  a  foraging  force  came  out,  or 
one  of  succor  endeavored  to  get  in,  multitudes  of  the  natives 
foiled  the  endeavor.  Famine  was  impending  in  the  fort.  The 
procrastinations  of  the  arts  of  beleaguering  always  help  the 
white  man  behind  his  ramparts,  when  the  savage  is  his  enemy. 
The  native  force  dwindled  under  the  delays,  and  Caonabo  at 
last  abandoned  the  siege. 

The  native  leader  now  gave  himself  to  a  larger  enterprise. 
Caonabo's  His  spies  told  him  of  the  weakened  condition  of  Isa- 
league.  bella,  and  he  resolved  to  form  a  league  of  the  princi 
pal  caciques  of  the  island  to  attack  that  settlement.  Wherever 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  309 

the  Spaniards  had  penetrated,  they  had  turned  the  friendliest 
feelings  into  hatred,  and  in  remote  parts  of  the  island  the  re 
ports  of  the  Spanish  ravages  served,  almost  as  much  as  the  ex 
perience  of  them,  to  embitter  the  savage.  It  was  no  small 
success  for  Caonabo  to  make  the  other  caciques  believe  that  the 
supernatural  character  of  the  Spaniards  would  not  protect  them 
if  a  combined  attack  should  be  arranged.  He  persuaded  all  of 
them  but  Guacanagari,  for  that  earliest  friend  of  Columbus  re 
mained  firm  in  his  devotion  to  the  Spaniards.  The  Admiral's 
confidence  in  him  had  not  been  misplaced.  He  was  subjected 
to  attacks  by  the  other  chieftains,  but  his  constancy  survived 
them  all.  In  these  incursions  of  his  neighbors,  his  wives  were 
killed  and  captured,  and  among  them  the  dauntless  Catalina,  as 
is  affirmed  ;  but  his  zeal  for  his  white  neighbors  did  not  abate. 

When  Guacanagari  heard  that  Columbus  had  returned,  he 
repaired^  to  Isabella,  and  from  this  faithful  ally  the 
Admiral  learned  of  the  plans  which  were  only  waiting  and  Gua- 
further  developments  for  precipitate  action. 

Columbus,  thus  forewarned,  was  eager  to  break  any  confed 
eracy  of  the  Indians  before  it  could  gather  strength.  He  had 
hardly  a  leader  disengaged  whom  he  could  send  on  the  war 
path.  It  was  scarcely  politic  to  place  Bartholomew  in  any 
such  command  over  the  few  remaining  Spanish  cavaliers  whose 
spirit  was  so  necessary  to  any  military  adventure.  He  sent  a 
party,  however,  to  relieve  a  small  garrison  near  the  villages  of 
Guatiguana,  a  tributary  chief  to  the  great  cacique  Guarionex ; 
but  the  party  resorted  to  the  old  excesses,  and  came  near  de 
feating  the  purposes  of  Columbus.  Guatiguana  was  prevailed 
upon,  however,  to  come  to  the  Spanish  settlement,  and  Colum 
bus,  to  seal  his  agreement  of  amity  with  him,  persuaded  him  to 
let  the  Lticayan  interpreter  marry  his  daughter.  To  this  dip 
lomatic  arrangement  the  Admiral  added  the  more  powerful 
argument  of  a  fort,  called  La  Concepcion,  which  he  Fort 
later  built  where  it  could  command  the  Vega  Real.  conception. 

It  was  not  long  before   four  ships,  with  Antonio  Torres  in 
command,  arrived  from  Spain,  bringing  a  new  store 
of  provisions,  another  physician,  and  more  medicines, 
and,  what  was  much  needed,  artificers  and  numerous 
gardeners.     There  was  some  hope  now  that  the  soil  could  be 
made  to  do  its  part  in  the  support  of  the  colony. 


310  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

To  the  Admiral  came  a  letter,  dated  August  16,  from  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella,  giving  him  notice  that  all  the  difficulties 
with  Portugal  had  been  amicably  adjusted.  The  court  of  Lis 
bon,  finding  that  Pope  Alexander  was  not  inclined  to  recede 
from  his  position,  and  Spain  not  courting  any  difference  that 
would  lead  to  hostilities,  both  countries  had  easily  been  brought 
to  an  agreement,  which  was  made  at  Tordesillas,  June 
7.  Treaty  of  7,  1494,  to  move  the  line  of  demarcation  so  much  far 
ther  as  to  fall  370  leagues  west  of  the  Cape  de  Verde 
Islands.  Each  country  then  bound  itself  to  respect  its  granted 
rights  under  the  bull  thus  modified.  The  historical  study  of 
this  diplomatic  controversy  over  the  papal  division  of  the  world 
is  much  embarrassed  by  the  lack  of  documentary  records  of  the 
correspondence  carried  on  by  Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  Pope. 

This  letter  of  August  16  must  have  been  very  gratifying  to 
The  sover-  Columbus.  Their  Majesties  told  him  that  one  of  the 
tigcoiS2er  principal  reasons  of  their  rejoicing  in  his  discoveries 
bus'  was  that  they  felt  it  all  due  to  his  genius  and  perse 

verance,  and  that  the  events  had  justified  his  foreknowledge  and 
their  expectations.  So  now,  in  their  desire  to  define  the  new 
line  of  demarcation,  and  in  the  hope  that  it  might  be  found  to 
run  through  some  ocean  island,  where  a  monument  could  be 
erected,  they  turned  to  him  for  assistance,  and  they  expected 
that  if  he  could  not  return  to  assist  in  these  final  negotiations, 
he  would  dispatch  to  them  some  one  who  was  competent  to  deal 
with  the  geographical  problem. 

Torres  had  also  brought  a  general  letter  of  counsel  to  the 
and  to  the  colonists,  commanding  them  to  obey  all  the  wishes  and 
colonists.  to  |30W  to  t]ie  autnority  of  the  Admiral.  Whatever 
his  lack  of  responsibility,  in  some  measure  at  least,  for  the  un 
doubted  commercial  failure  of  the  colony,  its  want  of  a  product 
in  any  degree  commensurate  both  with  expectation  and  outlay 
could  not  fail,  as  he  well  understood,  to  have  a  strong  effect 
both  on  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  on  the  constancy  of  his 
royal  patrons,  who  might,  under  the  urging  of  Margarite  and  his 
abettors,  have  already  swerved  from  his  support. 

Reasons  of  this  kind  made  it  imperative  that  the  newly  ar 
rived  ships  should  be  returned  without  delay,  and  with  such 
reassuring  messages  and  returns  as  could  be  furnished.  The 
fleet  departed  on  February  24,  1495.  Himself  still  prostrate, 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  311 

and  needing  his  brother  Bartholomew  to  act  during  this  season 
of  his  incapacity,  there  was  no  one  he  could  spare  so  1495i  Feb. 
well  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  sovereigns  as  his  other  i"aerjfl^t  re. 
brother.  So  armed  with  maps  and  instructions,  and  g^2Jto 
with  the  further  mission  of  protecting  the  Admiral's 
interest  at  Court,  Diego  embarked  in  one  of  the  caravels.  All 
the  gold  which  had  been  collected  was  consigned  to  Diego's 
care,  but  it  was  only  a  sorry  show,  after  all.  There  had  been  a 
variety  of  new  fruits  and  spices,  and  samples  of  baser  metals 
gathered,  and  these  helped  to  complete  the  lading.  There  was 
one  resource  left.  He  had  intimated  his  readiness  to  avail  him 
self  of  it  in  the  communication  of  his  views  to  the  carrying 
sovereigns,  which  Torres  had  already  conveyed  to  them.  slaves- 
He  now  gave  the  plan  the  full  force  of  an  experiment,  and 
packed  into  the  little  caravels  full  five  hundred  of  the  unhappy 
natives,  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  "  The  very  ship,"  says  Helps,. 
"  which  brought  that  admirable  reply  from  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella  to  Columbus,  begging  him  to  seek  some  other  way  to 
Christianity  than  through  slavery,  even  for  wild  man-devouring 
Caribs,  should  go  back  full  of  slaves  taken  from  among  the  mild 
islanders  of  Hispaniola."  The  act  was  a  long  step  in  the  mis 
erable  degradation  which  Columbus  put  upon  those  poor  crea 
tures  whose  existence  he  had  made  known  to  the  world.  Almost 
in  the  same  breath,  as  in  his  letter  to  Santangel,  he  had  sug 
gested  the  future  of  a  slave  traffic  out  of  that  very  existence. 
It  is  an  obvious  plea  in  his  defense  that  the  example  of  the 
church  and  of  kings  had  made  such  heartless  conduct  a  common 
resort  to  meet  the  financial  burdens  of  conquest.  The  Portu 
guese  had  done  it  in  Africa ;  the  Spaniards  had  done  it  in 
Spain.  The  contemporary  history  of  that  age  may  be  coiumbua 
said  to  ring  with  the  wails  and  moans  of  such  negro  and  8lavery< 
and  Moorish  victims.  A  Holy  Religion  had  unblushingly  been 
made  the  sponsor  for  such  a  crime.  Theologians  had  proved 
that  the  Word  of  God  could  ordain  misery  in  this  world,  if  only 
the  recompense  came  —  or  be  supposed  to  come  —  in  a  passport 
to  the  Christian's  heaven. 

The  merit  which  Columbus  arrogated  to  himself  was  that  he 
was  superior  to  the  cosmographical  knowledge  of  his  time.  It 
was  the  merit  of  Las  Casas  that  he  threw  upon  the  reeking  pas 
sions  of  the  enslaver  the  light  of  a  religion  that  was  above 


812  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

sophistry  and  purer  than  cupidity.     The  existence  of  Las  Casas 
is  the  arraignment  of  Columbus. 

It  may  be  indeed  asking  too  much  of  weak  humanity  to  be 
good  in  all  things,  and  therein  rests  the  pitiful  plea  for  Colum 
bus,  the  originator  of  American  slavery. 

Events  soon  became  ominous.    A  savage  host  began  to  gather 

in  the  Yega  Real,  and  all  that  Columbus,  now  recovering  his 

strength,  could  marshal  in  his  defense  was  about  two  hundred 

foot  and  twenty  horse,  but  they  were  cased  in  steel,  and  the 

natives  were  naked.     In  this  respect,  the  fight  was  unequal,  and 

the  more  so  that  the  Spaniards  were  now  able  to  take 

wood- e<    y  into  the  field  a  pack  of  twenty  implacable  bloodhounds. 

The  bare  bodies  of   the  Indians  had  no  protection 

against  their  insatiate  thirst. 

It  was  the  27th  of  March,  1495,  when  Columbus,  at  the  head 
of  this  little  army,  marched  forth  from  Isabella,  to 
27.  coium-     confront  a  force  of  the  natives,  which,  if  we  choose 
'  to  believe  the  figures  that  are  given  by  Las  Casas, 
.amounted  to  100,000  men,  massed  under  the  command  of  Man- 
icaotex.     The  whites  climbed  the  Pass  of  the  Hidalgos,  where 
Columbus  had  opened  the  way  the  year  before,  and  descended 
into  that  lovely  valley,  no  longer  a  hospitable  paradise.     As 
they  approached  the  hostile  horde,  details  were  sent  to  make 
the  attacks  various  and  simultaneous.      The  Indians  were  sur 
prised  at  the  flashes  of  the  arquebuses  from  every  quarter  of 
the  woody  covert,  and  the  clang  of  their  enemies'  drums  and  the 
bray  of  their  trumpets  drowned  the  savage  yells.     The  native 
army  had  already  begun  to  stagger  in  their  wonder  and  perplex 
ity,  when  Ojeda,  seizing  the  opportune  moment,  dashed 
the  vfga8  m  with  his  mounted  lancemen  right  into  the  centre  of 
the  dusky  mass.     The  bloodhounds  rushed  to  their 
sanguinary  work  on  his  flanks.     The  task  was  soon  done.     The 
woods   were   filled   with   flying   and   shrieking   savages.     The 
league  of  the  caciques  was  broken,  and  it  was  only  left  for  the 
conquerors  to  gather  up  their  prisoners.    Guacanagari,  who  had 
followed  the  white  army  with  a  train  of   his  subjects,  looked 
on  with  the  same  wonder  which  struck  the  Indians  who  were 
beaten.    There  was  no  opportunity  for  him  to  fight  at  all.     The 
rout  had  been  complete.     This  notable  conflict  taking  place  on 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  313 

April  25.  1495,  is  a  central  point  in  a  somewhat  bewildering 
tangle  of  events,  as  our  authorities  relate  them,  so  that  1495  April 
it  is  not  easy  in  all  cases  to  establish  their  sequence. 

The  question  of  dealing. with  Caonabo  was  still  the  most  im 
portant  of  all.  It  was  solved  by  the  cunning  and  dash  of  Ojeda. 
Presenting  his  plan  to  the  Admiral,  he  was  commanded  to  carry 
it  out.  Taking  ten  men  whom  he  could  trust,  Ojeda  boldly 
sought  the  village  where  Caonabo  was  quartered,  and 
with  as  much  intrepidity  as  cunning  put  himself  in  captured  by 
the  power  of  that  cacique.  The  chieftain  was  not  with-  °ied< 
out  chivalry,  and  the  confidence  and  audacity  of  Ojeda  won 
him.  Hospitality  was  extended,  and  the  confidences  of  a  mutual 
respect  soon  ensued.  Ojeda  proposed  that  Caonabo  should  ac 
company  him  to  Isabella,  to  make  a  compact  of  friendship  with 
the  Viceroy.  All  then  would  be  peaceful.  Caonabo,  who  had 
often  wondered  at  the  talking  of  the  great  bell  in  the  chapel  at 
Isabella,  as  he  had  heard  it  when  skulking  about  the  settle 
ment,  eagerly  sprang  to  the  lure,  when  Ojeda  promised  that  he 
should  have  the  bell.  Ojeda,  congratulating  himself  on  the  suc 
cess  of  his  bait,  was  disconcerted  when  he  found  that  the  cacique 
intended  that  a  large  force  of  armed  followers  should  make  the 
visit  with  him.  To  prevent  this,  Ojeda  resorted  to  a  stratagem, 
which  is  related  by  Las  Casas,  who  says  it  was  often  spoken  of 
when  that  priest  first  came  to  the  island,  six  years  later.  Munoz 
was  not  brought  to  believe  the  tale ;  but  Helps  sees  no  obstacle 
to  giving  it  credence. 

The  Spaniards  and  the  Indians  were  all  on  the  march  to 
gether,  and  had  encamped  by  a  river.  Ojeda  produced  a  set  of 
burnished  steel  manacles,  and  told  the  cacique  that  they  were 
ornaments  such  as  the  King  of  Spain  wore  on  solemn  occasions, 
and  that  he  had  been  commanded  to  give  them  to  the  most  dis 
tinguished  native  prince.  He  first  proposed  a  bath  in  the  river. 
The  swim  over,  Caonabo  was  prevailed  upon  to  be  put  behind 
Ojeda  astride  the  same  horse.  Then  the  shining  baubles  were 
adjusted,  apparently  without  exciting  suspicion,  amid  the  elation 
of  the  savage  at  his  high  seat  upon  the  wondrous  beast.  A  few 
sweeping  gallops  of  the  horse,  guided  by  Ojeda,  and  followed 
by  the  other  mounted  spearmen,  scattered  the  amazed  crowd  of 
the  cacique's  attendants.  Then  at  a  convenient  gap  in  the  circle 


314  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Ojeda  spurred  his  steed,  and  the  whole  mounted  party  dashed 
into  the  forest  and  away.  The  party  drew  up  only  when  they 
had  got  beyond  pursuit,  in  order  to  bind  the  cacique  faster  in 
his  seat.  So  in  due  time,  this  little  cavalcade  galloped  into  Isa 
bella  with  its  manacled  prisoner. 

The  meeting  of  Columbus  and  his  captive  was  one  of  very 
Meets  Co-  different  emotions  in  the  two,  —  the  Admiral  rejoi- 
lumbus.  cing  that  his  most  active  foe  was  in  his  power,  and  the 
cacique  abating  nothing  of  the  defiance  which  belonged  to  his 
freedom.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that,  as  Caonabo  lay  in  his  shackles 
in  an  outer  apartment  of  the  Admiral's  house,  the  people  came 
and  looked  at  him.  He  also  relates  that  the  bold  Ojeda  was 
the  only  one  toward  whom  the  prisoner  manifested  any  respect, 
acknowledging  in  this  way  his  admiration  for  his  audacity.  He 
would  maintain  only  an  indifferent  haughtiness  toward  the  Ad 
miral,  who  had  not,  as  he  said,  the  courage  to  do  himself  what 
he  left  to  the  bravery  of  his  lieutenant. 

Ojeda  presently  returned  to  his  command  at  St.  Thomas, 
only  to  find  that  a  brother  of  Caonabo  had  gathered  the  Indians 
for  an  assault.  Dauntless  audacity  again  saved  him.  He  had 
brought  with  him  some  new  men,  and  so,  leaving  a  garrison  in 
the  fort,  he  sallied  forth  with  his  horsemen  and  with 
taceksathe  as  many  foot  as  he  could  muster  and  attacked  the  ap 
proaching  host.  A  charge  of  the  glittering  horse, 
with  the  flashing  of  sabres,  broke  the  dusky  line.  The  savages 
fled,  leaving  their  commander  a  prisoner  in  Ojeda's  hands. 

Columbus  followed  up  these  triumphs  by  a  march  through 
the  country.  Every  opposition  needed  scarce  more  than  a  dash 
of  Ojeda's  cavalry  to  break  it.  The  Vega  was  once  more  quiet 
with  a  sullen  submission.  The  confederated  caciques  all  sued 
for  peace,  except  Behechio,  who  ruled  the  southwestern  corner 
of  the  island.  The  whites  had  not  yet  invaded  his  territory, 
and  he  retired  morosely,  taking  with  him  his  sister,  Anacaona, 
the  wife  of  the  imprisoned  Caonabo. 

The  battle  and  the  succeeding  collapse  had  settled  the  fate  of 
the  poor  natives.  The  policy  of  subjecting  men  by  violence  to 
Reparti-  Pav  *ne  tribute  of  their  lives  and  property  to  Span- 
e^c£Sen*nd  kh  cupidity  was  begun  in  earnest,  and  it  was  shortly 
after  made  to  include  the  labor  on  the  Spanish  farms, 
which,  under  the  names  of  repartimientos  and  encomiendas,  de- 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  315 

moralized  the  lives  of  master  and  slave.  When  prisoners  were 
gathered  in  such  numbers  that  to  guard  them  was  a  burden, 
there  could  be  but  little  delay  in  forcing  the  issue  of  the  slave 
trade  upon  the  Crown  as  a  part  of  an  established  policy0  To 
the  mind  of  Columbus,  there  was  now  some  chance  of  repelling 
the  accusations  of  Margarite  and  Father  Boyle  by  palpable 
returns  of  olive  flesh  and  shining  metal.  A  scheme  of  enforced 
contribution  of  gold  was  accordingly  planned.  Each  native 
above  the  age  of  fourteen  was  required  to  pay  every  three 
months,  into  the  Spanish  coffers,  his  share  of  gold,  measured 
by  the  capacity  of  a  hawk's  bell  for  the  common  person,  and 
by  that  of  a  calabash  for  the  cacique.  In  the  regions  distant 
from  the  gold  deposits,  cotton  was  accepted  as  a  substitute, 
twenty-five  pounds  for  each  person.  A  copper  medal  was  put 
on  the  neck  of  every  Indian  for  each  payment,  and  new  exac 
tions  were  levied  upon  those  who  failed  to  show  the  medals. 
The  amount  of  this  tribute  was  more  than  the  poor  natives 
could  find,  and  Guarionex  tried  to  have  it  commuted  for  grain ; 
but  the  golden  greed  of  Columbus  was  inexorable.  He  pre 
ferred  to  reduce  the  requirements  rather  than  vary  the  kind. 
A  half  of  a  hawk's  bell  of  gold  was  better  than  stores  of  grain. 
"  It  is  a  curious  circumstance,"  says  Irving,  "  that  the  miseries 
of  the  poor  natives  should  thus  be  measured  out,  as  it  were,  by 
the  very  baubles  which  first  fascinated  them." 

To  make  this  payment  sure,  it  was  necessary  to  establish  other 
armed  posts  through    the  country ;    and    there    were 
speedily  built  that  of  Magdalena  in    the  Vega,   one 
called  Esperanza  in  Cibao,  another  named  Catalina,  beside  La 
Concepcion,  which  has  already  been  mentioned. 

The  change  which  ensued  in  the  lives  of  the  natives  was 
pitiable.  The  labor  of  sifting  the  sands  of  the  streams  The  natives 
for  gold,  which  they  had  heretofore  made  a  mere  pas-  debased- 
time  to  secure  bits  to  pound  into  ornaments,  became  a  depress 
ing  task.  To  work  fields  under  a  tropical  sun,  where  they  had 
basked  for  sportive  rest,  converted  their  native  joyousness  into 
despair.  They  sang  their  grief  in  melancholy  songs,  as  Peter 
Martyr  tells  us.  Gradually  they  withdrew  from  their  old 
haunts,  and  by  hiding  in  the  mountains,  they  sought  to  avoid 
the  exactions,  and  to  force  the  Spaniards,  thus  no  longer  sup 
plied  by  native  labor  with  food,  to  abandon  their  posts  and  re- 


316  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

tire  to  Isabella,  if  not  to  leave  the  island.  Scant  fare  for  them 
selves  and  the  misery  of  dank  lurking-places  were  preferable 
to  the  heavy  burdens  of  the  taskmasters.  They  died  in  their 
retreats  rather  than  return  to  their  miserable  labors.  Even  the 
long-tried  friend  of  the  Spaniards,  Guacanagari,  was  made  no 
exception.  He  and  his  people  suffered  every  exaction  with  the 
Guacanagari  rest  °^  their  countrymen.  The  cacique  himself  is  said 
disappears,  eventually  to  have  buried  himself  in  despair  in  the 
mountain  fastnesses,  and  so  passed  from  the  sight  of  men. 

The  Spaniards  were  not  so  easily  to  be  thwarted.  They 
hunted  the  poor  creatures  like  game,  and,  under  the  goading  of 
lashes,  such  as  survived  were  in  time  returned  to  their  slavery. 
So  thoroughly  was  every  instinct  of  vengeance  rooted  out  of  the 
naturally  timid  nature  of  the  Indians  that  a  Spaniard  might,  as 
Las  Casas  tells  us,  march  solemnly  like  an  army  through  the 
most  solitary  parts  of  the  island  and  receive  tribute  at  every 
demand. 


It  is  time  to  watch  the  effect  of  the  representations  of  Mar- 
garite  and  Father  Boyle  at  the  Spanish  Court.  Columbus  had 
been  doubtless  impelled,  in  these  schemes  of  cruel  ex- 
interestsin  action,  by  the  fear  of  their  influence,  and  with  the 
hope  of  meeting  their  sneers  at  his  ill  success  with 
substantial  tribute  to  the  Crown.  The  charges  against  Colum 
bus  and  his  policy  and  against  his  misrepresentation  had  all 
the  immediate  effect  of  accusations  which  are  supported  by  one 
sided  witnesses.  Every  sentiment  of  jealousy  and  pride  was 
played  upon,  and  every  circumstance  of  palliation  and  modifica 
tion  was  ignored.  The  suspicious  reservation  which  had  more 
or  less  characterized  the  bearing  of  Ferdinand  towards  the  trans 
actions  of  the  hero  could  become  a  background  to  the  newer 
emotions.  Fonseca  and  the  comptroller  Juan  de  Soria  are 
charged  with  an  easy  acceptance  of  every  insinuation  against 
the  Viceroy.  The  canonizers  cannot  execrate  Fonseca  enough. 
They  make  him  alternately  the  creature  and  beguiler  of  the 
King.  His  subserviency,  his  trading  in  bishoprics,  and  his  alleged 
hatred  of  Columbus  are  features  of  all  their  portraits  of  him. 

The  case  against  the  Admiral  was  thus  successfully  argued. 
Testimony  like  that  of  the  receiver  of  the  Crown  taxes  in  re 
buttal  of  charges  seemed  to  weigh  little.  Movements  having 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  317 

been  instituted  at  once  (April  7,  1495)  to  succor  the  colony  by 
the  immediate  dispatch  of  supplies,  it  was  two  days  later  agreed 
with  Beradi  —  the  same  with  whom  Vespucius  had  been  asso 
ciated,  as  we  have  seen  —  to  furnish  twelve  ships  for  Espanola. 
The  resolution  was  then  taken  to  send  an  agent  to  investigate 
the  affairs  of  the  colony.  If  he  should  find  the  Admiral  still 
absent,  —  for  the  length  of  his  cruise  to  Cuba  had  already,  at 
that  time,  begun  to  excite  apprehension  of  his  safety,  —  this  same 
agent  was  to  superintend  the  distribution  of  the  supplies  which 
he  was  to  take.  At  this  juncture,  in  April,  1495,  Torres,  arriv 
ing  with  his  fleet,  reported  the  Admiral's  safe  return,  and  sub 
mitted  the  notarial  document,  in  which  Columbus  had  made  it 
clear  to  his  own  satisfaction  that  the  Golden  Chersonesus  was 
in  sight.  Whether  that  freak  of  geographical  prescience  threw 
about  his  expedition  a  temporary  splendor,  and  again  wakened 
the  gratitude  of  the  sovereigns,  as  Irving  says  it  did,  may  be 
left  to  the  imagination ;  but  the  fact  remains  that  the  sover 
eigns  did  not  swerve  from  their  purpose  to  send  an  Aguado  sent 
inquisitor  to  the  colony,  and  the  same  Juan  Aguado  to  EsPa"ola- 
who  had  come  back  with  credentials  from  the  Admiral  himself 
was  selected  for  the  mission. 

There  were  some  recent  orders  of  the  Crown  which  Aguado 
was  to  break  to  the  Admiral,  from  which  Columbus  could  not 
fail  to  discover  that  the  exclusiveness  of  his  powers 
was  seriously  impaired.    On  the  10th  of  April,  1495,   10.   AH 

.  J  i  .  Spaniards  al- 

it  had   been  ordered  that  any  native-born  Spaniard  lowed  to  ex- 
could  invade  the  seas  which  had  been  held  to  be  ap 
portioned  to  Columbus,  that  such  navigator  might  discover  what 
he  could,  and  even  settle,  if  he  liked,  in  Espanola.     This  order 
was  a  ground  of  serious  complaint  by  Columbus  at  a  later  day, 
for  the  reason  that  this  license   was  availed  of   by  unworthy 
interlopers.     He  declares  that  after  the  way  had  been  shown 
even  the  very  tailors  turned  explorers.     It  seems  tolerably  cer 
tain  that  this  irresponsible  voyaging,  which  continued  till  Co 
lumbus  induced  the  monarchs  to  rescind   the   order  in  June, 
1497,  worked  developments  in  the  current  cartography  of  the 
new  regions  which  it  is  difficult  to  trace  to  their  distinct  sources. 
Gomara  intimates  that  during  this  period  there  were  Nameiess 
nameless    voyagers,    of    whose    exploits    we    have    no  v°yasers- 
record  by  which  to  identify  them,  and  Navarrete  and  Humboldt 


318  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

find  evidences  of  explorations  which  cannot  otherwise  be  ac 
counted  for. 

How  far  this  condition  of  affairs  was  brought  about  by  the 
Enemies  of  importunities  of  the  enemies  of  Columbus  is  not  clear. 
Columbus.  rpne  surviving  Pinzons  are  said  to  have  been  in  part 
those  who  influenced  the  monarchs,  but  doubtless  a  share  of 
profits,  which  the  Crown  required  from  all  such  private  specu 
lation,  was  quite  as  strong  an  incentive  as  any  importunities  of 
eager  mariners.  The  burdens  of  the  official  expeditions  were 
onerous  for  an  exhausted  treasury,  and  any  resource  to  replen 
ish  its  coffers  was  not  very  narrowly  scrutinized  in  the  light  of 
the  pledges  which  Columbus  had  exacted  from  a  Crown  that 
was  beginning  to  understand  the  impolicy  of  such  concessions. 

There  was  also  at  this  time  a  passage  of  words  between  Fon- 
seca  and  Diego  Colon  that  was  not  without  irritating 

Fonspna 

and  Diego      elements.      The  Admiral's  brother  had  brought  some 
gold  with  him,  which  he  claimed  as  his  own.    Fonseca 

withheld  it,  but  in  the  end  obeyed  the  sovereign's  order  and 

released  it.     It  was  no  time  to  add  to  the  complications  of  the 

Crown's  relations  with  the  distant  Viceroy. 

Aguado  bore  a  royal  letter,  which  commanded  Columbus  to 
reduce  the  dependents  of  the  colony  to  five  hundred, 

Royal  let-  .  rut  i     j  i 

tertoCo-  as  a  necessary  retrenchment.  Ihere  had  previously 
been  a  thousand.  Directions  were  also  given  to  con 
trol  the  apportionment  of  rations.  A  new  metallurgist  and 
master-miner,  Pablo  Belvis,  was  sent  out,  and  extraordinary 
privileges  in  the  working  of  the  mines  were  given  to  him. 
Munoz  says  that  he  introduced  there  the  quicksilver  process  of 
separating  the  gold  from  the  sand.  A  number  of  new  priests 
were  collected  to  take  the  place  of  those  who  had  returned,  or 
who  desired  to  come  back. 

Such  were  the  companions  and  instructions  that  Aguado  was 
commissioned  to  bear  to  Columbus.  There  was  still  another 
movement  in  the  policy  of  the  Crown  that  offered  the  Viceroy 
little  ground  for  reassurance.  The  prisoners  which  he  had  sent 
by  the  ships  raised  a  serious  question.  It  was  determined  that 
Columbus  anv  transaction  looking  to  the  making  slaves  of  them 
and  siayery.  j^  nQj.  been  authorized ;  but  the  desire  of  Columbus 
so  to  treat  them  had  at  first  been  met  by  a  royal  order  directing 
their  sale  in  the  marts  of  Andalusia.  A  few  days  later,  under 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  319 

the  influence  of  Isabella,  this  order  had  been  suspended,  till 
an  inquiry  could  be  made  into  the  cause  of  the  capture  of  the 
Indians,  and  until  the  theologians  could  decide  upon  the  jus- 
tifiableness  of  such  a  sale.  If  we  may  believe  Bernaldez,  who 
pictures  their  misery,  they  were  subsequently  sold  in  Seville. 
Muiioz,  however,  says  that  he  could  not  find  that  the  trouble 
which  harassed  the  theologians  was  ever  decided.  Such  hesi 
tancy  was  calculated  to  present  a  cruel  dilemma  to  the  Viceroy, 
since  the  only  way  in  which  the  clamor  of  the  Court  for  gold 
could  be  promptly  appeased  came  near  being  prohibited  by 
what  Columbus  must  have  called  the  misapplied  mercy  of  the 
Queen.  He  failed  to  see,  as  Munoz  suggests,  why  vassals  of 
the  Crown,  entering  upon  acts  of  resistance,  should  not  be  sub 
jected  to  every  sort  of  cruelty.  Humboldt  wonders  at  any  hesi 
tancy  when  the  grand  inquisitor,  Torquemada,  was  burning  her 
etics  so  fiercely  at  this  time  that  such  expiations  of  the  poor 
Moors  and  Jews  numbered  8,800  between  1481  and  1498  ! 

Aguado,  with  four  caravels,  and  Diego  Columbus  accompany 
ing  him,  having  sailed  from  Cadiz  late  in  August,  1495  Oc_ 
1495,  reached  the  harbor  of  Isabella  some  time  in  Oc-  Aguado  at 
tober.  The  new  commissioner  found  the  Admiral  ab-  Isabella- 
sent,  occupied  with  affairs  in  other  parts  of  the  island.  Aguado 
soon  made  known  his  authority.  It  was  embraced  in  a  brief 
missive,  dated  April  9,  1495,  and  as  Irving  translates  it,  it 
read  :  "  Cavaliers,  esquires,  and  other  persons,  who  by^our  orders 
are  in  the  Indies,  we  send  to  you  Juan  Aguado,  our  groom  of  the 
chambers,  who  will  speak  to  you  on  our  part.  We  command  you 
to  give  him  faith  and  credit."  The  efficacy  of  such  an  order 
depended  on  the  royal  purpose  that  was  behind  it,  and  on  the 
will  of  the  commissioner,  which  might  or  might  not  conform  to 
that  purpose.  It  has  been  a  plea  of  Irving  and  others  that 
Aguado,  elated  by  a  transient  authority,  transcended  the  inten 
tions  of  the  monarchs.  It  is  not  easy  to  find  a  definite  deter 
mination  of  such  a  question.  It  appears  that  when  the  instru 
ment  was  proclaimed  by  trumpet,  the  general  opinion  did  not 
interpret  the  order  as  a  suspension  of  the  Viceroy's  powers. 
The  Adelantado,  who  was  governing  in  Columbus's  absence, 
saw  the  new  commissioner  order  arrests,  countermand  direc 
tions,  and  in  various  ways  assume  the  functions  of  a  governor. 
Bartholomew  was  in  no  condition  to  do  more  than  mildly  remon- 


320  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

strate.  It  was  clearly  not  safe  for  him  to  provoke  the  great 
body  of  the  discontented  colonists,  who  professed  now  to  find  a 
champion  sent  to  them  by  royal  order. 

Columbus  heard  of  Aguado's  arrival,  and  at  once  returned  to 
Isabella.  Aguado,  who  had  started  to  find  him  with  an  escort 
of  horse,  missed  him  on  the  road,  and  this  delayed  their  meet- 
Meets  GO-  'mg  a  little.  When  the  conference  came,  Columbus, 
himbus.  with  a  dignified  and  courteous  air,  bowed  to  a  superior 
authority.  It  has  passed  into  history  that  Aguado  was  disap 
pointed  at  this  quiet  submission,  and  had  hoped  for  an  alterca 
tion,  which  might  warrant  some  peremptory  force.  It  is  also 
said  that  later  he  endeavored  to  make  it  appear  how  Columbus 
had  not  been  so  complacent  as  was  becoming. 

'  It  was  soon  apparent  that  this  displacement  of  the  Admiral 
was  restoring  even  the  natives  to  hope,  and  their  caciques  were 
not  slow  in  presenting  complaints,  not  certainly  without  reason, 
to  the  ascendant  power,  and  against  the  merciless  extortions  of 
the  Admiral. 

The  budget  of  accusations  which  Aguado  had  accumulated 
Accuses  was  now  fr^  enough,  and  he  ordered  the  vessels  to 
Columbus.  make  ready  to  carry  him  back  to  Spain.  The  situa 
tion  for  Columbus  was  a  serious  one.  He  had  in  all  this  trial 
experienced  the  results  of  the  intrigues  of  Margarite  and  Father 
Boyle.  He  knew  of  the  damaging  persuasiveness  of  the  Pin- 
zons.  He  had  not  much  to  expect  from  the  advocacy  of  Diego. 
There  was  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  to  face  in  person  the 
charges  as  reenforced  by  Aguado.  He  resolved  to  return  in 
the  ships.  "  It  is  not  one  of  the  least  singular  traits  in  his  his 
tory,"  says  Irving,  "  that  after  having  been  so  many  years  in 
persuading  mankind  that  there  was  a  new  world  to  be  dis 
covered,  he  had  almost  an  equal  trouble  in  proving  to  them  the 
advantage  of  the  discovery."  He  himself  never  did  prove  it. 

The  ships  were  ready.  They  lay  at  anchor  in  the  roadstead. 
A  cloud  of  vapor  and  dust  was  seen  in  the  east.  It 
was  borne  headlong  before  a  hurricane  such  as  the 


Spaniards  had  never  seen,  and  the  natives  could  not 
remember  its  equal.  It  cut  a  track  through  the  forests.  It 
lashed  the  sea  until  its  expanse  seethed  and  writhed  and  sent 
its  harried  waters  tossing  in  a  seeming  fright.  The  uplifted 
surges  broke  the  natural  barriers  and  started  inland.  The 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE. 


321 


ships  shuddered  at  their  anchorage  ;  cables  snapped ;  three  car 
avels  sunk,  and  the  rest  were  dashed  on  the  beach.  The  tumult 
lasted  for  three  hours,  and  then  the  sun  shone  upon  the  havoc. 


There  was  but  one  vessel  left  in  the  harbor,  and  she  was  shat 
tered.  It  was  the  "  Nina,"  which  had  borne  Columbus  in  his 
western  cruise.  As  soon  as  the  little  colony  recovered  its  senses, 


322  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

men  were  set  to  work  repairing  the  solitary  caravel,  and  con 
structing  another  out  of  the  remnants  of  the  wrecks. 

While  this  was  going  on,  a  young  Spaniard,  Miguel  Diaz  by 
Miguel  Diaz  name,  presented  himself  in  Isabella.  He  had  been 
finds  gold.  m  tke  servjce  Of  £he  Adelantado,  and  was  not  unrecog 
nized.  He  was  one  who  had  some  time  before  wounded  another 
Spaniard  in  a  duel,  and,  supposing  that  the  wound  was  mortal, 
he  had,  with  a  few  friends,  fled  into  the  woods  and  wandered 
away  till  he  came  to  the  banks  of  the  Ozema,  a  river  on  the 
southern  coast  of  the  island,  at  the  mouth  of  which  the  city  of 
Santo  Domingo  now  stands.  Here,  as  he  said,  he  had  attracted 
the  attention  of  a  female  cacique,  there  reigning,  and  had  be 
come  her  lover.  She  confided  to  him  the  fact  that  there  were 
rich  gold  mines  in  her  territory,  and  to  make  him  more  content 
in  her  company,  she  suggested  that  perhaps  the  Admiral,  if 
he  knew  of  the  mines,  would  abandon  the  low  site  of  Isabella,, 
and  find  a  better  one  on  the  Ozema.  Acting  on  this  suggestion, 
Diaz,  with  some  guides,  returned  to  the  neighborhood  of  Isa 
bella,  and  lingered  in  concealment  till  he  learned  that  his  an 
tagonist  had  survived  his  wound.  Then,  making  bold,  he  entered 
the  town,  as  we  have  seen.  His  story  was  a  welcome  one,  and 
the  Adelantado  was  dispatched  with  a  force  to  verify  the  adven 
turer's  statement.  In  due  time,  the  party  returned,  and  reported 
Hayna  that  at  a  river  named  Hayna  they  had  found  such 
mines-  stores  of  gold  that  Cibao  was  poor  in  comparison. 
The  explorers  had  seen  the  metal  in  all  the  streams ;  they 
observed  it  m  the  hillsides.  They  had  discovered  two  deep 
excavations,  which  looked  as  if  the  mines  had  been  worked  at 
some  time  by  a  more  enterprising  people,  since  of  these  great 
holes  the  natives  could  give  no  account.  Once  more  the  Admi- 
soiomon's  ra^'s  imagination  was  fired.  He  felt  sure  that  he  had 
ophir.  come  upon  the  Ophir  of  Solomon.  These  ancient 
mines  must  have  yielded  the  gold  which  covered  the  great  Tem 
ple.  Had  the  Admiral  not  discovered  already  the  course  of  the 
ships  which  sought  it  ?  Did  they  not  come  from  the  Persian 
gulf,  round  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  and  so  easterly,  as  he  him 
self  had  in  the  reverse  way  tracked  the  very  course  ?  Here  was 
a  new  splendor  for  the  Court  of  Spain.  If  the  name  of  India 
was  redolent  of  spices,  that  of  Ophir  could  but  be  resplendent 
with  gold !  That  was  a  message  worth  taking  to  Europe. 


THE  SECOND    VOYAGE.  323 

The  two  caravels  were  now  ready.  The  Adelantado  was  left 
in  command,  with  Diego  to  succeed  in  case  of  his  death.  Fran 
cisco  Roldan  was  commissioned  as  chief  magistrate,  and  the 
Fathers  Juan  Berzognon  and  Roman  Pane  remained  behind  to 
pursue  missionary  labors  among  the  natives.  Instructions  were 
left  that  the  valley  of  the  Ozema  should  be  occupied,  and  a  fort 
built  in  it.  Diaz,  with  his  queenly  Catalina,  had  become  im 
portant. 

There  was  a  motley  company  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
persons,  largely  discontents  and  vagabonds,  crowded  into  the 
two  ships.  Columbus  was  in  one,  and  Aguado  in  the  ^^  March 
other.  So  they  started  on  their  adventurous  and  10^  Goto*. 
wearying  voyage  on  March  10,  1496.  They  carried 
about  thirty  Indians  in  confinement,  and  among  them 
the  manacled  Caonabo,  with  some  of  his  relatives. 
Columbus  told  Bernaldez  that  he  took  the  chieftain  over  to  im 
press  him  with  Spanish  power,  and  that  he  intended  to  send  him 
back  and  release  him  in  the  end.  His  release  came  otherwise. 
There  is  some  disagreement  of  testimony  on  the  point,  some 
alleging  that  he  was  drowned  during  the  hurricane  in  the 
harbor,  but  the  better  opinion  seems  to  be  that  he  died  on  the 
voyage,  of  a  broken  spirit.  At  any  rate,  he  never  reached 
Spain,  and  we  hear  of  him  only  once  while  on  shipboard. 

We  have  seen  that  on  his  return  voyage  in  1492  Columbus 
had  pushed  north  before  turning  east.     It  does  not  appear  how 
much  he  had  learned  of  the  experience  of  Torres's  easterly  pas 
sages.     Perhaps  it  was  only  to  make  a  new  trial  that  he  now 
steered  directly  east.    He  met  the  trade  winds  and  the  calms  of 
the  tropics,  and  had  been  almost  a  month  at  sea  when,  1496 
on  April  6,  he  found  himself  still  neighboring  to  the  April6< 
islands  of  the  Caribs.     His  crew  needed  rest  and  provisions, 
and  he  bore  away  to  seek  them.     He  anchored  for  a  while  at 
Marigalante,  and  then  passed  on  to  Guadaloupe. 

He  had  some  difficulty  in  landing,  as  a  wild,  screaming  mass 
of  natives  was  gathered   on  the   beach  in   a  hostile  AtGuada- 
manner.      A    discharge    of    the    Spanish   arquebuses  loupe' 
cleared  the  way,  and  later  a  party  scouring  the  woods  captured 
some  of  the  courageous  women  of  the  tribe.     These  were  all 
released,  however,  except  a  strong,  powerful  woman,  who,  with  a 
daughter,  refused  to  be  left,  for  the  reason,  as  the  story  goes, 


324  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

that  she  had  conceived  a  passion  for  Caonabo.    By  the  20th,  the 

ships  again  set  sail ;  but  the  same  easterly  trades  baffled  them, 

and  another  month  was  passed  without  much  progress. 

1496.    June.      ^       , ,        ,         .        .  P    T 

Uy  the  beginning  ot  June,  provisions  were  so  reduced 
that  there  were  fears  of  famine,  and  it  began  to  be  considered 
whether  the  voyagers  might  not  emulate  the  Caribs  and  eat  the 
Indians.  Columbus  interfered,  on  the  plea  that  the  poor  crea 
tures  were  Christian  enough  to  be  protected  from  such  a  fate ; 
but  as  it  turned  out,  they  were  not  Christian  enough  to  be  saved 
from  the  slave-block  in  Andalusia.  The  alert  senses  of  Colum 
bus  had  convinced  him  that  land  could  not  be  far  distant,  and 
he  was  confirmed  in  this  by  his  reckoning.  These  opinions  of 
Columbus  were  questioned,  however,  and  it  was  not  at  all  clear 
in  the  minds  of  some,  even  of  the  experienced  pilots  who  were 
on  board,  that  they  were  so  near  the  latitude  of  Cape  St.  Vin 
cent  as  the  Admiral  affirmed.  Some  of  these  navigators  put 
the  ships  as  far  north  as  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  others  even  as  far 
as  the  English  Channel.  Columbus  one  night  ordered  sail  to 
be  taken  in.  They  were  too  near  the  land  to  proceed.  In  the 
14%.  June  morning,  they  saw  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cape 
11.  Cadiz.  gfc>  Vincent<  Qn  june  n?  tney  entered  the  harbor 

of  Cadiz. 


lumbus  ar 
es  at 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IN   SPAIN,  1496-1498. 
DA   GAMA,  VESPUCITJS,  CABOT. 

"  THE  wretched  men  crawled  forth,"  as  Irving  tells  us  of 
their  debarkation,  "  emaciated  by  the  diseases  of  the  1496  Co_ 
colony  and  the  hardships  of  the  voyage,  who  carried  JfJJ 
in  their  yellow  countenances,  says  an  old  writer,  a  Cadiz' 
mockery  of  that  gold  which  had  been  the  object  of  their  search, 
and  who  had  nothing  to  relate  of  the  New  World  but  tales  of 
sickness,  poverty,  and  disappointment."  This  is  the  key  to  the 
contrasts  in  the  present  reception  of  the  adventurers  with  that 
which  greeted  Columbus  on  his  return  to  Palos. 

When  Columbus  landed  at  Cadiz,  he  was  clothed  with  the 
robe  and  girdled  with  the  cord  of  the  Franciscans.  His  face 
was  unshaven.  Whether  this  was  in  penance,  or  an  assump 
tion  of  piety  to  serve  as  a  lure,  is  not  clear.  Oviedo  says  it 
was  to  express  his  humility ;  and  his  humbled  prid,e  needed 
some  such  expression. 

He  found  in  the  harbor  three  caravels  just  about  starting  for 
Espanola  with  tardy  supplies.  It  had  been  intended  to  send 
some  in  January  ;  but  the  ships  which  started  with  them  suf 
fered  wreck  on  the  neighboring  coasts.  He  had  only  to  ask 
Pedro  Alonso  Nino,  the  commander  of  this  little  fleet,  for  his 
dispatches,  to  find  the  condition  of  feeling  which  he  was  to  en 
counter  in  Spain.  They  gave  him  a  sense,  more  than  and  learns 
ever  before,  of  the  urgent  necessity  of  making  the  tiono°"the 
colony  tributary  to  the  treasury  of  the  Crown.  It  was  Publicmind- 
clear  that  discord  and  unproductiveness  were  not  much  longer 
to  be  endured.  So  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Adelantado,  which 
was  to  go  by  the  ships,  urging  expedition  in  quieting  the  life 
of  the  colonists,  and  in  bringing  the  resources  of  the  island 
under  such  control  that  it  could  be  made  to  yield  a  steady  flow 
of  treasure.  To  this  end,  the  new  mines  of  Hayna  must  be  fur- 


326  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

ther  explored,  and  the  working  of  them  started  with  diligence. 
A  port  of  shipment  should  be  found  in  their  neigh- 
17.  '  opium-  borhood,  he  adds.  With  such  instructions  to  Bartholo- 
til sarthoio-  mew,  the  caravels  sailed  on  June  17,  1496.  It  must 
have  been  with  some  trepidation  that  Columbus  for 
warded  to  the  Court  the  tidings  of  his  arrival.  If  the  two  dis 
patches  which  he  sent  could  have  been  preserved,  we  might 
better  understand  his  mental  condition. 

As  soon  as  the  messages  of  Columbus  reached  their  Majesties, 
invited  to  tnen  at  Almazan,  they  sent,  July  12,  1496,  a  letter  in- 
court.  viting  him  to  Court,  and  reassuring  him  in  his  de 
spondency  by  expressions  of  kindness.  So  he  started  to  join  the 
Court  in  a  somewhat  better  frame  of  mind.  He  led  some  of  his 
bedecked  Indians  in  his  train,  not  forgetting  "  in  tjie  towns " 
to  make  a  cacique  among  them  wear  conspicuously  a  golden 
necklace. 

Bernaldez  tells  us  that  it  was  in  this  wily  fashion  that  Co 
lumbus  made  his  journey  into  the  country  of  Castile,  —  "  the 
which  collar,"  that  writer  adds,  "  I  have  seen  and  held  in  these 
hands ; "  and  he  goes  on  to  describe  the  other  precious  orna 
ments  of  the  natives,  which  Columbus  took  care  that  the  gaping 
crowds  should  see  on  this  wandering  mission. 

It  is  one  of  the  anachronisms  of  the  Historie  of  1571  that  it 
places  the  Court  at  this  time  at  Burgos,  and  makes  it  there  to 
celebrate  the  marriage  of  the  crown  prince  with  Margaret  of 
Austria.  The  author  of  that  book  speaks  of  seeing  the  festivi 
ties  himself,  then  in  attendance  as  a  page  upon  Don  Juan.  It 
was  a  singular  lapse  of  memory  in  Ferdinand  Columbus  —  if 
this  statement  is  his  —  to  make  two  events  like  the  arrival  of 
his  father  at  Court,  with  all  the  incidental  parade  as  described 
in  the  book,  and  the  ceremonies  of  that  wedding  festival  iden 
tical  in  time.  The  wedding  was  in  fact  nine  months  later,  in 
April,  1497. 

Columbus's  reception,  wherever  it  was,  seems  to  have  been 
gracious,  and  he  made  the  most  of  the  amenities  of  the 

Received  by    s  .          .  .  , 

the  sover-  occasion  to  picture,  in  his  old  exaggerating  way,  the 
wealth  of  the  Ophir  mines.  He  was  encouraged  by 
the  effect  which  his  enthusiasm  had  produced  to  ask  to  be  sup- 
Makes  new  plied  with  another  fleet,  partly  to  send  additional  sup- 
demands.  pj|eg  j.Q  Espanola,  but  mainly  to  enable  him  to  dis- 


IN  SPAIN,  1J,96-1498.  327 

cover  that  continental  land  farther  south,  of  which  he  had  so 
constantly  heard  reports. 

It  was  easy  for  the  monarchs  to  give  fair  promises,  and  quite 
as  easy  to  forget  them,  for  a  while  at  least,  in  the  busy  scenes 
which  their  political  ambitions  were  producing.  Belligerent 
relations  with  France  necessitated  a  vigilant  watch  about  the 
Pyrenees.  There  were  fleets  to  be  maintained  to  resist,  both  in 
the  Mediterranean  and  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  attacks  which 
might  unexpectedly  fall.  An  imposing  armada  was  preparing 
to  go  to  Flanders  to  carry  thither  the  Princess  Juana  to  her 
espousal  with  Philip  of  Austria.  The  same  fleet  was  to  bring 
back  Philip's  sister  Margaret  to  become  the  bride  of  Prince 
Juan,  in  those  ceremonials  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made. 

These  events  were  too  engrossing  for  the  monarchs  to  give 
much  attention  to  the  wishes  of  Columbus,  and  it  was  not  till 
the  autumn  of  1496  that  an  appropriation  was  made  1496  Au_ 
to  equip  another  little  squadron  for  him.  The  hopes  ^"exptdi- 
it  raised  were  soon  dashed,  for  having  some  occasion  tlonordered- 
to  need  money  promptly,  at  a  crisis  of  the  contest  which  the 
King  was  waging  with  France,  the  money  which  had  been  in 
tended  for  Columbus  was  diverted  to  the  new  exigency.  What 
was  worse  in  the  eyes  of  Columbus,  it  was  to  be  paid  out  of 
some  gold  which  it  was  supposed  that  Nino  had  brought  back 
from  the  mines  of  Hayna.  This  officer  on  arriving  at  Cadiz 
had  sent  to  the  Court  some  boastful  messages  about  his  golden 
lading,  which  were  not  confirmed  when  in  December  the  sober 
dispatch  of  the  Adelantado,  which  Nino  had  kept  back,  came 
to  be  read.  The  nearest  approach  to  gold  which  the  caravels 
brought  was  another  crowd  of  dusky  slaves,  and  the  dispatches 
of  Bartholomew  pictured  the  colony  in  the  same  conditions  of 
destitution  as  before.  There  was  no  stimulant  in  such  reports 
either  for  the  Admiral  or  for  the  Court,  and  the  New  World 
was  again  dismissed  from  the  minds  of  all,  or  consigned  to  their 
derision. 

When  the  spring  months  of  1497   arrived,  there  were  new 
hopes.     The  wedding  of  Prince  Juan  at  Burgos  was 
over,  and  the  Queen  was  left  more  at  liberty  to  think  sPring%  co- 
of  her  patronage  of  the  new  discoveries.     The  King  T\KhtTrLt- 
was  growing  more  and  more  apathetic,  and  some  of 


328 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


the  leading  spirits  of  the  Court  were  inimical,  either  actively 
or  reservedly.  By  the  Queen's  influence,  the  old  rights  bestowed 
upon  Columbus  were  reaffirmed  (April  23,  1497),  and  he  was 
offered  a  large  landed  estate  in  Espanola,  with  a  new  territorial 
title ;  but  he  was  wise  enough  to  see  that  to  accept  it  would 
complicate  his  affairs  beyond  their  present  entanglement.  He 
was  solicitous,  however,  to  remove  some  of  his  present  pecuniary 
embarrassments,  and  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  be  relieved 
from  bearing  an  eighth  of  the  cost  of  the  ventures  of 
the  last  three  years,  and  that  he  should  surrender  all 
rights  to  the  profits  ;  while  for  the  three  years  to  come  he 


New  powers. 


FERDINAND  OF   ARAGON. 
[From  an  ancient  medallion  given  in  Buckingham  Smith's  Coleccion.] 

should  have  an  eighth  of  the  gross  income,  and  a  further  tenth 
of  the  net  proceeds.  Later,  the  original  agreement  was  to  be 
restored.  His  brother  Bartholomew  was  created  Adelantado, 
giving  thus  the  royal  sanction  to  the  earlier  act  of  the  Admiral. 
In  the  letters  patent  made  out  previous  to  Coluinbus's  second 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498. 


329 


voyage,  the  Crown  distinctly  reserved  the  right  to  grant  other 
licenses,  and  invested  Fonseca  with  the  power  to  do  Fonseca  al 
so,  allowing  to  Columbus    nothing   more    than    one 
eighth  of  the  tonnage ;  and  in  the  ordinance  of  June 
2,  1497,  in  which  they  now  revoked  all  previous  licenses,  the 
revocation  was  confined  to  such  things  as  were  repugnant  to  the 
rights  of  Columbus.     It  was  also  agreed  that  the  Crown  should 


BARTHOLOMEW  COLUMBUS. 
[From  Barcia's  Herrera."} 

maintain  for  him  a  body  of  three  hundred  and  thirty  gentlemen, 
soldiers,  and  helpers,  to  accompany  him  on  his  new  expedition, 
and  this  number  could  be  increased,  if  the  profits  of  the  colony 
warranted  the  expenditure.  Power  was  given  to  him  to  grant 
land  to  such  as  would  cultivate  the  soil  for  four  years  ;  but  all 
brazil-wood  and  metals  were  to  be  reserved  for  the  Crown. 


330  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

All  this  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  complaints  which  had 
been  made  against  the  oppressive  sternness  of  the  Admiral's 
rule  had  not  as  yet  broken  down  the  barriers  of  the  Queen's 
protection.  Indeed,  we  find  up  to  this  time  no  record  of  any 
serious  question  at  Court  of  his  authority,  and  Irving  thinks 
nothing  indicates  any  symptom  of  the  royal  discontent  except 
the  reiterated  injunctions,  in  the  orders  given  to  him  respecting 
the  natives  and  the  colonists,  that  leniency  should  govern  his 
conduct  so  far  as  was  safe. 

Permission  being  given  to  him  to  entail  his  estates,  he  marked 
out  in  a  testamentary  document  (February  22,  1498) 
ruai^  22.  the  succession  of  his  heirs,  —  male  heirs,  with  Ferdi 
nand's  rights  protected,  if  Diego's  line  ran  out ;  then 
male  heirs  of  his  brothers ;  and  if  all  male  heirs  failed,  then  the 
estates  were  to  descend  by  the  female  line.  The  title  Admiral 
was  made  the  paramount  honor,  and  to  be  the  perpetual  dis 
tinction  of  his  representatives.  The  entail  was  to  furnish 
forever  a  tenth  of  its  revenues  to  charitable  uses.  Genoa  was 
placed  particularly  under  the  patronage  of  his  succeeding  rep 
resentatives,  with  injunctions  always  to  do  that  city  service,  as 
far  as  the  interests  of  the  Church  and  the  Spanish  Crown 
would  permit.  Investments  were  to  be  made  from  time  to  time 
in  the  bank  of  St.  George  at  Genoa,  to  accumulate  against  the 
opportune  moment  when  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
seemed  feasible,  either  to  help  to  that  end  any  state  expedition 
or  to  fit  out  a  private  on'e.  He  enjoined  upon  his  heirs  a  con 
stant,  unwavering  devotion  to  the  Papal  Church  and  to  the 
Spanish  Crown.  At  every  season  of  confession,  his  representa 
tive  was  commanded  to  lay  open  his  heart  to  the  confessor,  who 
must  be  prompted  by  a  perusal  of  the  will  to  ask  the  crucial 
questions. 

It  was  in  the  same  document  that  Columbus  prescribed  the 
signature  of  his  representatives  in  succeeding  generations,  fol 
lowing  a  formula  which  he  always  used  himself. 

c 

Columbus's  *  °  ' 

signature.  .  S.  A.     S. 

X.M.  Y. 

X/3o  FERENS. 

The  interpretation  of  this  has  been  various :  Servus  Supplex 
Altissimi  Salvatoris,  Christus,  Maria,  Yoseph,  Christo  ferens, 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498.  331 

is  one  solution  ;   Servidor  sus  Altezas  sacras,  Christo,  Maria 
Ysabel,  is  another ;  and  these  are  not  all. 

The  complacency  of  the  Queen  was  soothing ;  her  appoint 
ment  of  his  son  Ferdinand  as  her  page  (February  18, 1498) 
was  gratifying,  but  it  could  not  wholly  compensate  Columbus  for 
the  condition  of  the  public  mind,  of  which  he  was  in 
every  way  forcibly  reminded.  There  were  both  the  ityofPC(?r 
whisper  of  detraction  spreading  abroad,  and  the  out 
spoken  objurgation.  The  physical  debility  of  his  returned  com 
panions  was  made  a  strong  contrast  to  his  reiterated  stories  of 
Paradise.  Fortunes  wrecked,  labor  wasted,  and  lives  lost  had 
found  but  a  pitiable  compensation  in  a  few  cargoes  of  miserable 
slaves.  The  people  had  heard  of  his  enchanting  landscapes, 
but  they  had  found  his  aloes  and  mastic  of  no  value.  Hidal- 
goes  said  there  was  nothing  of  the  luxury  they  had  been  told 
to  expect.  The  gorgeous  cities  of  the  Great  Khan  had  not 
been  found.  Such  were  the  kind  of  taunts  to  which  he  was 
subjected. 

Columbus,  during  this  period  of  his  sojourn  in  Spain,  spent 
a  considerable  interval  under  the  roof  of  Andres  Ber- 
naldez,  and  we  get  in  his  history  of  the  Spanish  kings  with  Ber- 
the  advantage  of  the  talks  which  the  two  friends  had 
together. 

The  Admiral  is  known  to  have  left  with  Bernaldez  various 
documents  which  were  given  to  him  in  the  presence  of  Juan  de 
Fonseca.  From  the  way  in  which  Bernaldez  speaks  of  these 
papers,  they  would  seem  to  have  been  accounts  of  the  voyage  of 
Columbus  then  already  made,  and  it  was  upon  these  documents 
that  Bernaldez  says  he  based  his  own  narratives. 

This  ecclesiastic  had  known  Columbus  at  an  earlier  day, 
when  the  Genoese  was  a  vender  of  books  in  Andalu-  Bernaidez's 
sia,  as  he  says ;  in  characterizing  him,  he  calls  his  opml 
friend  in  another  place  a  man  of  an  ingenious  turn,  but  not  of 
much  learning,  and  he  leaves  one  to  infer  that  the  book-vender 
was  not  much  suspected  of  great  familiarity  with  his  wares. 

We  get  as  clearly  from  Bernaldez  as  from  any  other  source 
the  measure  of  the  disappointment  which  the  public  shared  as 
respects  the  conspicuous  failure  of  these  voyages  of  Columbus 
in  their  pecuniary  relations. 


332  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  results  are  summed  up  by  that  historian  to  show  that  the 
cost  of  the  voyages  had  been  so  great  and  the  returns  so  small 
that  it  came  to  be  believed  that  there  was  in  the  new 
turJs  It  regions  no  gold  to  speak  of.  Taking  the  first  voyage, 
—  and  the  second  was  hardly  better,  considering  the 
larger  opportunities,  —  Harrisse  has  collated,  for  instance,  all 
the  references  to  what  gold  Columbus  may  have  gathered ;  and 
though  there  are  some  contradictory  reports,  the  weight  of  tes 
timony  seems  to  confine  the  amount  to  an  inconsiderable  sum, 
which  consisted  in  the  main  of  personal  ornaments.  There  are 
legends  of  the  gold  brought  to  Spain  from  this  voyage  being 
used  to  gild  palaces  and  churches,  to  make  altar  ornaments  for 
the  cathedral  at  Toledo,  to  serve  as  gifts  of  homag;e  to  the 
Pope,  but  we  may  safely  say  that  no  reputable  authority  sup 
ports  any  such  statements. 

Notwithstanding  this  seeming  royal  content  of  which  the 
signs  have  been  given,  there  was,  by  virtue  of  a  discontented 
and  irritated  public  sentiment,  a  course  open  to  Columbus  in 
these  efforts  to  fit  out  his  new  expedition  which  was  far  from 
easy.  There  was  so  much  disinclination  in  the  merchants  to 
furnish  ships  that  it  required  a  royal  order  to  seize  them  before 
the  small  fleet  could  be  gathered. 

The  enlistments  to  man  the  ships  and  make  up  the  contin- 
Difficuities  gent  destined  for  the  colony  were  more  difficult  still. 
ihefinewge°x-fc  The  alacrity  with  which  everybody  bounded  to  the 
pedition.  summons  on  his  second  voyage  had  entirely  gone,  and 
it  was  only  by  the  foolish  device  which  Columbus  decided  upon 
criminals  °^  opening  the  doors  of  the  prisons  and  of  giving 
pardon  to  criminals  at  large,  that  he  was  enabled  to 
help  on  the  registration  of  his  company. 

Finding  that  all  went  slowly,  and  knowing  that  the  colony 

at  Espanola  must  be  suffering  from  want  of  supplies,  the  Queen 

was  induced  to  order  two  caravels  of  the  fleet  to  sail 

cara'veis        at  once,  early  in  1498,  under  the  command  of  Pedro 

Fernandez  Coronel.     This  was  only  possible  because 

the  Queen  took  some  money  which  she  had  laid  aside  as  a  part 

of  a  dower  which  was  intended  for  her  daughter  Isabella,  then 

betrothed  to  Emmanuel,  the  King  of  Portugal. 

So  much  was  gratifying;  but  the  main  object  of  the  new 
expedition  was  to  make  new  discoveries,  and  there  were  many 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498.  333 

harassing  delays  yet  in  store  for  Columbus  before  he  could  de 
part  with  the  rest  of  his  fleet.     These  delays,  as  we  shall  see, 
enabled  another  people,  under  the  lead  of  another  Italian,  to 
precede  him  and  make  the  first  discovery  of  the  mainland.    The 
Queen  was  cordial,  but  an  affliction  came  to  distract  her,  in  the 
death  of  Prince  Juan.     Fonseca,  who  was  now  in  charge  of  the 
fitting  out  of  the  caravels,  seems  to  have  lacked  heart 
in  the  enterprise ;  but  it  serves  the  purpose  of  Colum-  lacK a  s 
bus's  adulatory  biographers  to  give  that  agent  of  the 
Crown  the  character  of  a  determined  enemy  of  Columbus. 

Even  the  prisons  did  not  disgorge  their  vermin,  as  he  had 
wished,  and  his  company  gathered  very  slowly,  and  never  be 
came  full.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  troubles  followed  him  even 
to  the  dock.  The  accountant  of  Fonseca,  one  Ximeno  de  Bre- 
viesca,  got  into  an  altercation  with  the  Admiral,  who 
knocked  him  down  and  exhibited  other  marks  of  pas-  altercation 
sion.  Las  Casas  further  tells  us  that  this  violence,  ca's  account- 
through  the  representations  of  it  which  Fonseca  made, 
produced  a  greater  effect  on  the  monarchs  than  all  the  allega 
tions  of  the  Admiral's  cruelty  and  vindictiveness  which  his 
accusers  from  Espanola  had  constantly  brought  forward,  and 
that  it  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  change  of  royal  senti 
ment  towards  him,  which  soon  afterwards  appeared.  Colum 
bus  seems  to  have  discovered  the  mistake  he  had  made  very 
promptly,  and  wrote  to  the  monarchs  to  counteract  its  effect.  It 
was  therefore  with  this  new  anxiety  upon  his  mind  that  he  for 
the  third  time  committed  himself  to  his  career  of  adventure 
and  exploration.  The  canonizers  would  have  it  that  their 
sainted  hero  found  it  necessary  to  prove  by  his  energy  in  per 
sonal  violence  that  age  had  not  impaired  his  manhood  for  the 
trials  before  him ! 

Before  following  Columbus  on  this  voyage,  the  reader  must 
take  a  glance  at  the  conditions  of  discovery  elsewhere,  for  these 
other  events  were  intimately  connected  with  the  significance  of 
Columbus's  own  voyagings. 

The  problem  which  the  Portuguese  had  undertaken  to  solve 
was,  as  has  been  seen,  the  passage  to  India  by  the 
Stormy  Cape  of  Africa.     Even  before  Columbus  had 
sailed  on  his  first  voyage,  word  had  come  in  1490  to 


334 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


encourage  King  Joao  II.  His  emissaries  in  Cairo  had  learned 
from  the  Arab  sailors  that  the  passage  of  the  cape  was  practi 
cable  on  the  side  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  The  success  of  his 
Spanish  rivals  under  Columbus  in  due  time  encouraged  the 
Portuguese  king  still  more,  or  at  least  piqued  him  to  new 
efforts. 

Vasco  da  Grama  was  finally  put  in  command  of  a  fleet  spe 
cially  equipped.      It 
was  now  some  years 
since  his  pilot,  Pero 
de    Alemquer,    had 
carried  Diaz  well  off 
the  cape.     On  Sun 
day,   July   8,  1497, 
Da      Gam  a      sailed 
from  below  Lisbon, 
and     on    November 
22   he    passed    with 
full  canvas  the  for 
midable     cape.      It 
was    not,     however, 
till     December      17 
that  he  reached  the 
point     where     Diaz 
had    turned      back. 
His  further  progress 
does  not  concern  us 
here.     Suffice   it  to 
say  that  he  cast  an 
chor  at  Calicut  May  20,  1498,  and  India  was  reached 
icSyiy  20^  ten  days  before  Columbus  started  a  third  time  to  ver 
ify  his  own  beliefs,  but  really  to  find  them  errors. 
Towards  the  end  of  August,  or  perhaps  early  in  September, 
of  the  next  year  (1499),  Da  Gama  arrived   at  Lisbon  on  his 
return   voyage,   anticipated,   indeed,    by   one    of   his  caravels, 
which,  separated  from  the  commander  in  April  or  May,  had 
pushed  ahead  and  reached  home  on  the  10th  of  July.     Portu 
gal  at  once  resounded  with  jubilation.     The  fleet  had  returned 
crippled  with  disabled  crews,  and  half  the  vessels  had  disap 
peared  ;  but  the  solution  of  a  great  problem  had  been  reached. 


VASCO   DA  GAMA. 
[From  Stanley's  Da  Gama.'} 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498. 


335 


The  voyage  of  Da  Gam  a,  opening  a  trade  eagerly  pursued 
and  eagerly  met,  offered,  as  we  shall  see,  a  great  contrast  to 
the  small  immediate  results  which  came  from  the  futile  efforts 
of  Columbus  to  find  a  western  way  to  the  same  regions. 


There  have  been  students  of  these  early  explorers  who  have 
contended  that,  while  Columbus  was  harassed  in  Spain  with 


336 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


these  delays  in  preparing  for  his  third  voyage,  the  Florentine 
Vespucius,  whom  we  have  encountered  already  as 
helping  Berardi  in  the  equipment  of  Columbus's 
fleets,  had,  in  a  voyage  of  which  we  have  some  con- 


Supposed 
voyage  of 
Vespucius. 


fused  chronology,  already  in  1497  discovered  and  coursed  the 
northern  shores  of  the  mainland  south  of  the  Caribbean  Sea. 

Bernaldez  tells  us  that,  during  the  interval  between  the  sec 
ond  and  third  voyages  of  Columbus,  the  Admiral  "  accorded 
permission  to  other  captains  to  make  discoveries  at  the  west, 
who  went  and  discovered  various  islands."  Whether  we  can 


77V  SPAIN,   1496-1498.  337 

connect  this  statement  with  any  such  voyage  as  is  now  to  be 
considered  is  a  matter  of  dispute. 

This  question  of  the  first  discovery  of  the  mainland  of  South 
America,  —  we  shall  see  that  North  America's  mainland  had  al 
ready  been  discovered,  —  whether  by  Columbus  or  Ves- 
pucius,  is  one  which  has  long  vexed  the  historian  and  ered  South*" 
still  does  perplex  him,  though  the  general  consensus 
of  opinion  at  the  present  day  is  in  favor  of  Columbus,  while 
pursuing  the  voyage  through  which  we  are  soon  to  follow  him. 
The  question  is  much  complicated  by  the  uncertainties  and  con 
fusion  of  the  narratives  which  are  our  only  guides.  The  dis 
covery,  if  not  claimed  by  Vespucius,  has  been  vigorously  claimed 
for  him.  Its  particulars  are  also  made  a  part  of  the  doubt  which 
has  clouded  the  recitals  concerning  the  voyage  of  Pinzon  and 
Solis  to  the  Honduras  coast,  which  are  usually  placed  later ;  but 
by  Oviedo  and  Gomara  this  voyage  is  said  to  have  preceded  that 
of  Columbus. 

The  claim  for  Vespucius  is  at  the  best  but  an  enforced 
method  of  clarifying  the  published  texts  concerning  Claimed  £or 
the  voyages,  in  the  hopes  of  finding  something  like  VesPucius- 
consistency  in  their  dates.  Any  commentator  who  undertakes 
to  get  at  the  truth  must  necessarily  give  himself  up  to  some  sort 
of  conjecture,  not  only  as  respects  the  varied  inconsistencies  of 
the  narrative,  but  also  as  regards  the  manifold  blunders  of  the 
printer  of  the  little  book  which  records  the  voyages.  Munoz 
had  it  in  mind,  it  is  understood,  to  prove  that  Vespucius  could 
not  have  been  on  the  coast  at  the  date  of  his  alleged  discovery  ; 
but  in  the  opinions  of  some  the  documents  do  not  prove  all  that 
Munoz,  Navarrete,  and  Humboldt  have  claimed,  while  the  advo 
cacy  of  Varnhagen  in  favor  of  Vespucius  does  not  allow  that 
writer  to  see  what  he  apparently  does  not  desire  to  see.  The 
most,  perhaps,  that  we  can  say  is  that  the  proof  against  the 
view  of  Varnhagen,  who  is  in  favor  of  such  a  voyage  in  1497, 
is  not  wholly  substantiated.  The  fact  seems  to  be,  so  far  as 
can  be  made  out,  that  Vespucius  passed  from  one  commander's 
employ  to  another's,  at  a  date  when  Ojeda,  in  1499,  had  not 
completed  his  voyage,  and  when  Pinzon  started.  So  supposing 
a  return  to  Spain  in  order  for  Vespucius  to  restart  with  Pinzon, 
it  is  also  supposable  that  the  year  1499  itself  may  have  seen 
him  under  two  different  leaders.  If  this  is  the  correct  view,  it 


338  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

of  course  carries  forward  the  date  to  a  time  later  than  the  dis 
covery  of  the  mainland  by  Columbus.  It  is  nothing  but  plau 
sible  conjecture,  after  all ;  but  something  of  the  nature  of  con 
jecture  is  necessary  to  dissipate  the  confusion.  The  belief  of 
this  sharing  of  service  is  the  best  working  hypothesis  yet  de 
vised  upon  the  question. 

If  Vespucius  was  thus  with  Pinzon,  and  this  latter  navigator 
did,  as  Oviedo  claims,  precede  Columbus  to  the  mainland,  there 
is  no  proof  of  it  to  prevent  a  marked  difference  of  opinion 
among  all  the  writers,  in  that  some  ignore  the  Florentine  nav 
igator  entirely,  and  others  confidently  construct  the  story  of 
his  discovery,  which  has  in  turn  taken  root  and  been  widely 
believed. 

A  voyage  of  1497  does  not  find  mention  in  any  of  the  con 
temporary  Portuguese  chroniclers.  This  absence  of 
voyage  of  reference  is  serious  evidence  against  it.  It  seems  to  be 
certain  that  within  twenty  years  of  their  publication, 
there  were  doubts  raised  of  the  veracity  of  the  narratives  attrib 
uted  to  Vespucius,  and  Sebastian  Cabot  tells  us  in  1505  that  he 
does  not  believe  them  in  respect  to  this  one  voyage  at  any  rate, 
and  Las  Casas  is  about  as  well  convinced  as  Cabot  was  that  the 
story  was  unfounded.  Las  Casas's  papers  passed  probably  to 
Herrera,  who,  under  the  influence  of  them,  it  would  seem,  for 
mulated  a  distinct  allegation  that  Vespucius  had  falsified  the 
dates,  converting  1499  into  1497.  To  destroy  all  the  claims 
associated  with  Pinzon  and  Solis,  Herrera  carried  their  voyage 
forward  to  1506.  It  was  in  1601  that  this  historian  made  these 
points,  and  so  far  as  he  regulated  the  opinions  of  Europe  for  a 
century  and  a  half,  including  those  of  England  as  derived 
through  Robertson,  Vespucius  lived  in  the  world's  regard  with 
a  clouded  reputation.  The  attempt  of  Bandini  in  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  to  lift  the  shadow  was  not  ver}^  fortunate, 
but  better  success  followed  later,  when  Canovai  delivered  an 
address  which  then  and  afterwards,  when  it  was  reinforced  by 
other  publications  of  his,  was  something  like  a  gage  thrown  to 
the  old-time  defamatory  spirit.  This  denunciatory  view  was 
vigorously  worked,  with  Navarrete's  help,  by  Santarem  in  the 
Coleccion  of  that  Spanish  scholar,  whence  Irving  in  turn  got 
his  opinions.  Santarem  professed  to  have  made  most  extensive 
examinations  of  Portuguese  and  French  manuscripts  without 
finding  a  trace  of  the  Florentine. 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498.  339 

Undaunted  by  all  such  negative  testimony,  the  Portuguese 
Varnhagen,  as  early  as  1839,  began  a  series  of  publications 
aimed  at  rehabilitating  the  fame  of  Vespucius,  against  the 
views  of  all  the  later  writers,  Humboldt,  Navarrete,  Santarem, 
and  the  rest.  Humboldt  claimed  to  adduce  evidence  to  show 
that  Vespucius  was  all  the  while  in  Europe.  Varnhagen  finally 
brought  himself  to  the  belief  that  in  this  disputed  voyage  of 
1497  Vespucius,  acting  under  the  orders  of  Vicente  Yanez  Pin- 
zon  and  Juan  Diaz  de  Solis,  really  reached  the  main  at  Hondu 
ras,  whence  he  followed  the  curvatures  of  the  coast  northerly  till 
he  reached  the  capes  of  Chesapeake.  Thence  he  steered  east 
erly,  passed  the  Bermudas,  and  arrived  at  Seville.  If  this  is 
so,  he  circumnavigated  the  archipelago  of  the  Antilles,  and  dis 
proved  the  continental  connection  of  Cuba.  Varnhagen  even 
goes  so  far  as  to  maintain  that  Vespucius  had  not  been  deceived 
into  supposing  the  coast  was  that  of  Asia,  but  that  he  divined 
the  truth.  Varnhagen  has  remained  alone  in  this  estimate  of 
the  evidence,  until  of  late  Professor  Fiske,  has  supported  him. 

Valentini,  in  our  day,  has  even  supposed  that  the  incomplete 
Cuba  of  the  Ruysch  map  of  1508  was  really  the  Yucatan  shore, 
which  Vespucius  had  skirted. 

The  claim  which  some  French  zealots  in  maritime  discovery 
have  attempted  to  sustain,  of  Norman  adventurers  being  on  the 
Brazil  coast  in  1497-98,  is  hardly  worth  consideration. 

We  turn  now  to  other  problems.     The  Bull  of  Demarcation 
was  far  from  being  acceptable  as  an  ultimate  decision 
in  England,  and  the  spirit  of  her  people  towards  it  is  expedition 
well  shown   in  the  Westerns  Planting  of   Hakluyt. 
This  chronicler  mistrusts  that  its   "  certain  secret  causes "  — 
which  words  he  had  found  in  the  papal  bull,  probably  by  using 
an  inaccurate  version  —  were  no  other  than  u  the  feare  and  jel- 
ousie  that  King  Henry  of  England,  with  whom  Bartholomew 
Columbus  had  been  to  deal  in  this  enterprise,  and  who  even 
now  was  ready  to  send  him  into  Spain  to  call  his  brother  Chris 
topher  to  England,  should  put  a  foot  into  this  action;"  and  so 
the  Pope,  "  fearing  that  either  the  King  of  Portugal  might  be 
reconciled  to  Columbus,  or  that  he  might  be  drawn  into  Eng 
land,  thought  secretly  by  his  unlawful  division  to  defraud  Eng 
land  and  Portugal  of  that  benefit."    So  England  and  Portugal 


340  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

had  something  like  a  common  cause,  and  the  record  of  how  they 
worked  that  cause  is  told  in  the  stories  of  Cabot  first,  and  of 
Cortereal  later.  We  will  examine  at  this  point  the  Cabot  story 
only. 

Bristol  had  long  been  the  seat  of  the  English  commerce  with 
Iceland,  and  one  of  the  commodities  received  in  return  for 
English  goods  was  the  stockfish,  which  Cabot  was  to  recognize 
on  the  Newfoundland  banks.  These  stories  of  the  codfish  noticed 
by  Cabot  recalled  in  the  mind  of  Galvano  in  1555, 
and  again  more  forcibly  to  Hakluyt  a  half  century 


later,  when  Germany  was  now  found  to  be  not  far 
from  the  latitude  of  Baccalaos,  that  there  was  a  tale  of  some 
strange  men,  in  the  time  of  Frederick  Barbarossa  (A.  D.  1153), 
being  driven  to  Lubec  in  a  canoe. 

It  is  by  no  means  beyond  possibility  that  the  Basque  and  other 
fishermen  of  Europe  may  have  already  strayed  to  these  fish 
ing  grounds  of  Newfoundland,  at  some  period  anterior  to  this 
voyage  of  Cabot,  and^even  traces  of  their  frequenting  the  coast 
in  Bradore  Bay  have  been  pointed  out,  but  without  convincing 
as  yet  the  careful  student. 

A  Venetian  named  Zuan  Caboto,  settling  in  England,  and 
thenceforward  calling  himself  John  Cabot,  being  a 

John  Cabot.  .  .  ,  11- 

man  of  experience  in  travel,  and  having  seen  at  one 
time  at  Mecca  the  caravans  returning  from  the  east,  was  im 
pressed,  as  Columbus  had  been,  with  a  belief  in  the  round 
ness  of  the  earth.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  this  belief  had  taken 
for  him  a  compelling  nature  from  the  stories  which  had  come  to 
England  of  the  successful  voyage  of  the  Spaniards.  Indeed, 
Eamusio  distinctly  tells  us  that  it  was  the  bruit  of  Columbus's 
first  voyage  which  gave  to  Cabot  "  a  great  flame  of  desire  to 
attempt  some  notable  thing." 

When  Cabot  had  received  for  himself  and  his  three  sons  — 
one  of  whom  was  Sebastian  Cabot  —  a  patent  (March 
5,  1496)  from  Henry  VII.  to  discover  and  trade  with 
unknown  countries  beyond  the  seas,,  the  envoy  of  Fer 
dinand  and  Isabella  at  the  English  court  was  promptly  instructed 
to  protest  against  any  infringement  of  the  rights  of  Spain 
1497  May  *n  *^e  western  regions.  Whether  this  protest  was 
Cabot  sails.  accOuntable  for  the  delay  in  sailing,  or  not,  does  not 
appear,  for  Cabot  did  not  set  sail  from  Bristol  till  May,  1497. 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498.  341 

It  is  inferred  from  what  Beneventanus  says  in  his  Ptolemy  of 
1508  that  Ruysch,  who  gives  us  the  earliest  engraved  Ruysch  with 
map  of  Cabot's  discoveries,  was  a  companion  of  Cabot  Caboti 
in  this  initial  voyage.  When  that  editor  says  that  he  learned 
from  Ruysch  of  his  experiences  in  sailing  from  the  south  of 
England  to  a  point  in  53  degrees  of  north  latitude,  and  thence 
due  west,  it  may  be  referred  to  such  participancy  in  this  expe 
dition  from  Bristol.  We  know  from  a  conversation  which  is 
reported  in  Ramusio  —  unless  there  is  some  mistake  in  it  — 
that  Cabot  apprehended  the  nature  of  what  we  call  great  circle 
sailing,  and  claimed  that  his  course  to  the  northwest  would  open 
India  by  a  shorter  route  than  the  westerly  run  of  Columbus. 

When  Cabot  had^entured  westerly  700  leagues,  he  found 
land,  June  24, 1497.    There  has  been  some  confidence 
at  different  times,  early  and  late,  that  the  date  of  this  24.   Cabot 
first  Cabot  voyage  was  in  reality  three  years  before 
this.     The  belief  arose  from  the  date  of  1494  being  given  in 
what  seem  to  have  been  early  copies  of  a  map  ascribed 
to  Sebastian  Cabot,  whence  the  date  1494  was  copied   voyage,  1494 

L  or  1497  ? 

by  Hakluyt  in  1589,  though  eleven  years  later  he 
changed  it  to  1497.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  few  of  the  critics 
of  our  day,  except  D'Avezac,  hold  to  this  date  of  1494.  Major 
supposes  that  the  map  of  1544,  now  in  the  Paris  library  and 
ascribed  to  Cabot,  was  a  re-drawn  draft  from  the  lost  Spanish 
original,  in  which  the  date  in  Roman  letters,  VII,  may  have 
been  so  carelessly  made  in  joining  the  arms  of  the  V  that  it 
was  read  IIII ;  and  some  such  inference  was  apparently  in  the 
mind  of  Henry  Stevens  when  he  published  his  little  tract  on 
Sebastian  Cabot  in  1870. 

The  country  which  Cabot  thus  first  saw  was  supposed  by  him 
to  be  a  part  of  Asia,  and  to  be  occupied,  though  no  inhabitants 
were  seen. 

Cabot  was  for  over  three  hundred  years  considered  as  having 
made  his   landfall  on  the   coast  of   Labrador,   or  at   Cabot>8 
least  we  find  no  record  that  the  legend  of  the  map  of  landfalL 
1544,  placing  it  at  Cape  Breton,  had  impressed  itself  authorita 
tively  upon  the  minds  of  Cabot's  contemporaries  and  successors. 
Biddle  and  Humboldt,  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century, 
accepted  the  Labrador  landfall  with  little  question.     So  it  hap 
pened  that  when,   in   1843,  the   Cabot  mappemonde  of   1544 


342  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

was  discovered,  and  it  was  found  to  place  the  landfall  at  the 
island  of  Cape  Breton,  a  certain  definiteness,  where  there  had 
been  so  much  vagueness,  afforded  the  student  some  relief ;  but 
as  the  novelty  of  the  sensation  wore  off,  confidence  was  again 
lost,  inasmuch  as  the  various  uncertainties  of  the  document  give 
much  ground  for  the  rejection  of  all  parts  of  its  testimony  at 
variance  with  better  vouched  beliefs.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
more  satisfactory  proofs  can  be  adduced  of  another  region  for 
the  landfall,  but  none  such  have  yet  been  presented  to  scholars. 
It  is  commonly  held  now  that,  sighting  land  at  Cape  Breton, 
Cabot  coursed  northerly,  passed  the  present  Prince  Edward  Isl 
and,  and  then  sailed  out  of  the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle,  —  or  at 
least  this  is  as  reasonable  a  route  to  make  out  of  the  scant  rec 
ord  as  any,  though  there  is  nothing  like  a  commonly  received 
opinion  on  his  track.  There  is  some  ground  for  thinking  that 
he  could  not  have  entered  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  at  all.  He 
landed  nowhere  and  saw  no  inhabitants.  If  he  struck  the  main 
land,  it  was  probably  the  coasts  of  New  Brunswick  or  Labra 
dor  bordering  on  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  The  two  islands 
which  he  observed  on  his  right  may  have  been  headlands  of 
Newfoundland,  seeming  to  be  isolated. 

He  reached  Bristol  in  August,  having  been  absent  about 
three  months.  Raimondo  de  Soncino,  under  date  of 
gust!  c"bot  the  24th  of  that  month,  wrote  to  Italy  of  Cabot's  re 
turn,  and  a  fortnight  earlier  (August  10)  we  find 
record  of  a  gratuity  of  ten  pounds  given  to  Cabot  in  recognition 
of  this  service.  It  proved  to  be  an  expedition  which  was  to 
create  a  greater  sensation  of  its  kind  than  the  English  had 
before  known.  Bristol  had  nurtured  for  some  years  a  race  of 
hardy  seamen.  They  had  risked  the  dangers  of  the  great  un 
known  ocean  in  efforts  to  find  the  fabulous  island  of  Brazil,  and 
they  had  pushed  adventurously  westward  at  times,  but  always 
to  return  without  success.  The  intercourse  of  England  with 
the  northern  nations  and  with  Iceland  may  have  given  them 
tidings  of  Greenland ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
they  ever  supposed  that  country  to  be  other  than  an  extended 
peninsula  of  Europe,  enfolding  the  North  Atlantic.  Cabot's 
telling  of  a  new  land,  his  supposing  it  the  empire  of  the  Great 
Khan,  his  tales  of  the  wonderful  fishing  ground  thereabouts, 
where  the  water  was  so  dense  with  fish  that  his  vessels  were 


IN  SPAIN,   1496-1498.  343 

impeded,  and  his  expectation  of  finding  the  land  of  spices  if  he 
went  southward  from  the  region  of  his  landfall,  were  all  stories 
calculated  to  incite  wonder  and  speculation.    It  was  not  strange, 
then,  that  England  found  she  had  her  new  sea-hero,  as  Spain 
had  hers  in  Columbus ;  that  the  king  gave  him  money   Cabot  in 
and  a  pension  ;  and  that,  conscious  of  a  certain  dig-  EnBland- 
nity,  Cabot  went  about  the  city,  drawing  the  attention  of  the 
curious  by  reason  of  the  fine  silks  in  which  he  arrayed  himself. 

Cabot  had  no  sooner  returned  than  Pedro  de  Ayala,  the 
Spanish  envoy  in  London,  again  entered  a  protest,  and  gave 
notice  to  the  English  king  that  the  land  which  had  Spain  jealoug 
been  discovered  belonged  to  his  master.  There  is  ofEngland- 
some  evidence  that  Spain  kept  close  watch  on  the  country  at  the 
north  through  succeeding  years,  and  even  intended  settlement. 

This  Spanish  ambassador  wrote  home  from  London,  July  25, 
1498,  that  after  his  first  voyage,  Cabot  had  been  in  Cabotin 
Seville  and  Lisbon.     This  renders  somewhat  probable   Seville? 
the  suspicion  that  he  may  have  had  conferences  with  La  Cosa 
and  Columbus. 

That  John  Cabot,  on  returning  from  his  first  voyage,  pro 
duced  a  chart  which  he  had  made,  and  that  on  this  and  on  a 
solid  globe,  also  of  his  construction,  he  had  laid  down  what  he 
considered  to  be  the  region  he  had  reached,  now  admit  Cabot's 
of  no  doubt.  Foreign  residents  at  the  English  court  charts- 
reported  such  facts  to  the  courts  of  Italy  and  of  Spain.  In  the 
map  of  La  Cosa  (1500),  we  find  what  is  considered  a  reflex  of 
this  Cabot  chart,  in  the  words  running  along  a  stretch  of  the 
northeast  coast  of  Asia,  which  announce  the  waters  adjacent 
as  those  visited  by  the  English,  and  a  neighboring  headland  as 
the  Cape  of  the  English.  Even  La  Cosa's  use  of  the  Cabot  map 
was  lost  sight  of  before  long,  and  this  record  of  La  Cosa  re 
mained  unknown  till  Humboldt  discovered  the  map  in  Paris,  in 
1832,  in  the  library  of  Baron  Walckenaer,  whence  it  passed  in 
1853  into  the  royal  museum  at  Madrid.  The  views  of  Cabot 
respecting  this  region  seem  to  have  been  soon  obscured  by  the 
more  current  charts  showing  the  voyages  of  the  Cortereals, 
when  the  Cape  of  the  English  readily  disappeared  in  the  "  Cabo 
de  Portogesi,"  a  forerunner,  very  likely,  of  what  we  know  to 
day  as  Cape  Race. 

Such  an  appetizing  tale  as  that  of  the  first  Cabot  expedition 


344  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

was  not  likely  to  rest  without  a  sequel.  On  the  3d  of  Febru 
ary,  1497-98,  nearly  four  months  before  Columbus 
February.  sailed  on  his  third  voyage,  the  English  king  granted 
Cabot  voy-  a  new  patent  to  John  Cabot,  giving  him  the  right  to 
man  six  ships  if  he  could,  and  in  May  he  was  at  sea. 
Though  his  sons  were  not  mentioned  in  the  patent,  it  is  sup 
posed  that  Sebastian  Cabot  accompanied  his  father.  One  vessel 
putting  back  to  Ireland,  five  others  went  on,  carrying  John 
Cabot  westward  somewhere  and  to  oblivion,  for  we  never  hear 
of  him  again.  Stevens  ventures  the  suggestion  that  John  Cabot 
may  have  died  on  the  voyage  of  1498,  whereby  Sebastian  came 
into  command,  and  so  into  a  prominence  in  his  own  recollections 
of  the  voyage,  which  may  account  for  the  obscuration  of  his 
father's  participancy  in  the  enterprise.  One  of  the  ships  would 
seem  to  have  been  commanded  by  Lanslot  Thirkill,  of  London. 
What  we  know  of  this  second  voyage  are  mentions  in  later 
years,  vague  in  character,  and  apparently  traceable  to  what 
Sebastian  had  said  of  it,  and  not  always  clearly,  for  there  is  an 
evident  commingling  of  events  of  this  and  of  the  earlier  voyage. 
We  get  what  we  know  mainly  from  Peter  Martyr,  who  tells 
us  that  Cabot  called  the  region  Baccalaos,  and  from  Ramusio, 
who  reports  at  second  hand  Sebastian's  account,  made  forty 
years  after  the  event.  From  such  indefinite  sources  we  can 
make  out  that  the  little  fleet  steered  northwesterly,  and  got  into 
water  packed  with  ice,  and  found  itself  in  a  latitude  where 
there  was  little  night.  Thence  turning  south  they  ran  down  to 
36°  north  latitude.  The  crews  landed  here  and  there,  and  saw 
people  dressed  in  skins,  who  used  copper  implements.  When 
they  reached  England  we  do  not  know,  but  it  was  after  Octo 
ber,  1498. 

The  question  of  this  voyage  having  extended  down  the  Atlan- 
Extent  of  *ic  seaboard  of  the  present  United  States  to  the  region 
this  voyage.  o£  J^ri^a,  as  has  been  urged,  seems  to  be  set  at  rest 
in  Stevens's  opinion,  from  the  fact  that,  had  Cabot  gone  so  far, 
he  would  scarcely  have  acquiesced  in  the  claims  of  Ponce  de 
Leon,  Ayllon,  and  Gomez  to  have  first  tracked  parts  of  this 
coast,  when  Sebastian  Cabot  as  pilot  major  of  Spain  (1518), 
and  as  president  of  the  Congress  of  Badajoz  (1524),  had  to 
adjudicate  on  such  pretensions.  There  are  some  objections  to 
this  view,  in  that  the  results  of  unofficial  explorers  as  shown  in 


IN  SPAIN,  1496-14.98.  345 

the  Portuguese  map  of  Cantino  —  if  that  proposition  is  tenable 
—  and  the  rival  English  discoverers,  of  whom  Cabot  had  been 
one,  might  easily  have  been  held  to  be  beyond  the  Spanish 
jurisdiction.  It  is  not  difficult  to  demonstrate  in  these  matters 
the  Spanish  constant  unrecognition  of  other  national  explora 
tions. 

It  has  also  sometimes  been  held  that  the  wild  character  of 
the  coast  along  which  Cabot  sailed  must  have  convinced  him 
that  he  was  bordering  some  continental  region  intervening  be 
tween  him  and  the  true  coast  of  Asia ;  that  with  the  "  great 
displeasure "  he  had  felt  in  finding  the  land  running  north, 
Cabot,  in  fact,  must  have  comprehended  the  geographical  prob 
lem  of  America  long  before  it  was  comprehended  by  the  Span 
iards.  The  testimony  of  the  La  Cosa  and  Ruysch  maps  is 
not  favorable  to  such  a  belief. 

It  seems  pretty  certain  that  the  success  of  the  Cabot  voyage 
in  any  worldly  gain  was  not  sufficient  to  move  the  English 
again  for  a  long  period.  Still,  the  political  effect  was  to  raise 
a  claim  for  England  to  a  region  not  then  known  to  be  a  new 
continent,  but  of  an  appreciable  acquisition,  and  Eng 
land  never  afterwards  failed  to  rest  her  rights  upon  rests  her 

.  i  .        i    •  /.     -i .  -,  i  . -,         claim  on  it. 

this  claim  or  discovery ;  and  even  her  successors,  the 
American  people,  have  not  been  without  cause  to  rest  valuable 
privileges  upon  the  same.  The  geographical  effect  was  seen  in 
the  earliest  map  which  we  possess  of  the  new  lands  as  discov 
ered  by  Spain  and  England,  the  great  oxhide  map  of  Juan  de 
la  Cosa,  the  companion  of  Columbus  on  his  second  voyage,  and 
the  cartographer  of  his  discoveries,  which  has  already  been  men 
tioned,  and  of  which  a  further  description  will  be  given  later. 

Why  is  it  that  we  know  no  more  of  these  voyages  of  the 
Cabots  ?  There  seems  to  be  some  ground  for  the  suspicion  that 
the  "  maps  and  discourses  "  which  Sebastian  Cabot  left  behind 
him  in  the  hands  of  William  Worthington  may  have  fallen, 
through  the  subornation  by  Spain  of  the  latter,  into  the  hands 
of  the  rivals  of  England  at  a  period  just  after  the  publication 
(1582)  of  Hakluyt's  Divers  Voyages,  wherein  the  possession 
of  them  by  Worthington  was  made  known ;  at  least,  Scant  i^ovr. 
Biddle  has  advanced  such  a  theory,  and  it  has  some  c£t°f  the 
support  in  what  may  be  conjectured  of  the  history  of  v°y&%es- 
the  famous  Cabot  map  of  1544,  only  brought  to  light  three  him- 


346  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

dred  years  later.  Here  was  a  map  evidently  based  in  part  on 
such  information  as  was  known  in  Spain.  It  was  engraved,  as 
seems  likely,  though  purporting  to  be  the  work  of  Cabot,  in  the 
The  cabot  "^°W  Countries,  an(*  was  issued  without  name  of  pub 
lisher  or  place,  as  if  to  elude  responsibility.  Not 
withstanding  it  was  an  engraved  map,  implying  many 
copies,  it  entirely  disappeared,  and  would  not  have  been  known 
to  exist  except  that  there  are  references  to  such  a  map  as 
having  hung  in  the  gallery  at  Whitehall,  as  used  by  Ortelius 
before  1570,  and  as  noted  by  Sanuto  in  1588.  So  thorough  a 
suppression  would  seem  to  imply  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
Spanish  authorities  to  prevent  the  world's  profiting  by  the  pub 
lication  of  maritime  knowledge  which  in  some  clandestine  way 
had  escaped  from  the  Spanish  hydrographical  office.  That  this 
suppression  was  in  effect  nearly  successful  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  but  a  single  copy  of  the  map  has  come  down 
to  us,  the  one  now  in  the  great  library  at  Paris,  which  was 
found  in  Germany  by  Von  Martius  in  1843. 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  done  of  late  years  —  beginning 
writers  on  with  Biddle's  Sebastian  Cabot  in  1831,  a  noteworthy 
book,  showing  how  much  the  critical  spirit  can  do  to 
unravel  confusion,  and  ending  with  the  chapter  on  Cabot  by  the 
late  Dr.  Charles  Deane  in  the  Narrative  and  Critical  History 
of  America,  and  with  the  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot  of  Harrisse 
(Paris,  1882) — to  clear  up  the  great  obscurity  regarding  the 
two  voyages  of  John  Cabot  in  1497  and  1498,  an  obscurity  so 
dense  that  for  two  hundred  years  after  the  events  there  was  no 
suspicion  among  writers  that  there  had  been  more  than  a  single 
voyage.  It  would  appear  that  this  obscurity  had  mainly  arisen 
from  the  way  in  which  Sebastian  Cabot  himself  spoke  of  his 
explorations,  or  rather  from  the  way  in  which  he  is  reported  to 
have  spoken. 

Harrisse,  in  a  recent  examination  of  the  Cabot  problems,  allows  Sebastian 
Cabot's  connection  with  the  Cabot  map  of  1544  ;  but  thinks  he  purposely 
placed  John  Cabot's  landfall  at  Cape  Breton,  to  preclude  any  claim  to 
the  region  which  the  French  might  seek  to  establish  through  the  Cartier 
voyages,  while  his  true  landfall  was  ten  degrees  farther  north,  as  he  had 
himself,  by  implication,  earlier  acknowledged. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   THIRD    VOYAGE. 

1498-1500. 

IN  following  the  events   of   the   third  voyage,  we  have  to 
depend  mainly  on  two  letters  written  by  Columbus  Sources. 
himself.     One  is  addressed  to  the  Spanish  monarchs,  SS^f 
and   is   preserved    in   a   copy  made   by   Las   Casas.  joui 
What  Peter  Martyr  tells  us  seems  to  have  been  borrowed  from 
this  letter.     The  other  is  addressed  to  the  "  nurse  "  of  Prince 
Juan,  of  which  there  are  copies  in  the  Columbus  Custodia  at 
Genoa,  and  in  the  Munoz  collection  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
History  at  Madrid.     They  are  both  printed  in  Navarrete  and 
elsewhere,  and  Major  in  his  Select  Letters  of  Columbus  gives 
English  versions. 

There  are  also  some  evidences  that  the  account  of  this  voy 
age  given  in  the  Itinerarium  Portugalensium  was  based  on 
Columbus's  journal,  which  Las  Casas  is  known  to  have  had, 
and  to  have  used  in  his  Historia,  adding  thereto  some  details 
which  he  got  from  a  recital  by  Bernaldo  de  Ibarra,  one  of  Co- 
lumbus's  companions,  —  indeed,  his  secretary.  The  map  which 
accompanied  these  accounts  by  Columbus  is  lost.  We  only 
know  its  existence  through  the  use  of  it  made  by  Ojeda  and 
others. 

Las  Casas  interspersed  among  the  details  which  he  recorded 
from  Columbus's  journal  some  particulars  which  he  got  from 
Alonso  de  Vallejo.  One  of  the  pilots,  Hernan  Perez  Matheos, 
enabled  Oviedo  to  add  still  something  more  to  the  other  sources ; 
and  then  we  have  additional  light  from  the  mouths  of  various 
witnesses  in  the  Columbus  lawsuit.  There  is  a  little  at  second 
hand,  but  of  small  importance,  in  a  letter  of  Simon  Verde 
printed  by  Harrisse. 


348  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Before  setting  sail,  Columbus  prepared  some  directions  for  his 
coiumbus'B  son  Diego,  of  which  we  have  only  recently  had  notes, 
BOD  Diego.  suc}i  appearing  in  the  bulletin  of  the  Italian  Geo 
graphical  Society  for  December,  1889.  He  commands  in  these 
injunctions  that  Diego  shall  have  an  affectionate  regard  for 
the  mother  of  his  half-brother  Ferdinand,  adds  some  rules  for 
the  guidance  of  his  bearing  towards  his  sovereigns  and  his  fel 
low-men,  and  recommends  him  to  resort  to  Father  Gaspar  Gor- 
ricio  whenever  he  might  feel  in  need  of  advice. 

Columbus  lifted  anchor  in  the  port  of  San  Lucar  de  Barra- 
meda  on  May  30,  1498.  He  was  physically  far  from 

1498.    May  .          .  J    ,  .   .         ,  j        "\ 

so.  coium-  being  in  a  good  condition  for  so  adventurous  an  under 
taking.  He  had  hoped,  he  says  to  his  sovereigns,  "  to 
find  repose  in  Spain ;  whereas  on  the  contrary  I  have  expe 
rienced  nothing  but  opposition  and  vexation.'5  His  six  vessels 
stood  off  to  the  southwest,  to  avoid  a  French  —  some  say  a  Por 
tuguese  —  fleet  which  was  said  to  be  cruising  near  Cape  St. 
Vincent.  His  plan  was  a  definite  one,  to  keep  in  a  southerly 
course  till  he  reached  the  equatorial  regions,  and  then  to  pro 
ceed  west.  By  this  course,  he  hoped  to  strike  in  that  direction 
the  continental  mass  of  which  he  had  intimation  both  from  the 
reports  of  the  natives  in  Espanola  and  from  the  trend  which  he 
had  found  in  his  last  voyage  the  Cuban  coast  to  have.  Herrera 
tells  us  that  the  Portuguese  king  professed  to  have  some  know 
ledge  of  a  continent  in  this  direction,  and  we  may  con- 
southern  nect  it,  if  we  choose,  with  the  stories  respecting  Be- 
haim  and  others,  who  had  already  sailed  thitherward, 
as  some  reports  go  ;  but  it  is  hard  to  comprehend  that  any 
belief  of  that  kind  was  other  than  a  guess  at  a  compensating 
scheme  of  geography  beyond  the  Atlantic,  to  correspond  with 
the  balance  of  Africa  against  Europe  in  the  eastern  hemisphere. 
It  is  barely  possible,  though  there  is  no  positive  evidence  of  it, 
that  the  reports  from  England  of  the  Cabot  discoveries  at  the 
north  may  have  given  a  hint  of  like  prolongation  to  the  south. 
But  a  more  impelling  instinct  was  the  prevalent  one  of  his  time, 
which  accompanied  what  Michelet  calls  that  terrible  malady 
breaking  out  in  this  age  of  Europe,  the  hunger  and  thirst  for 
gold  and  other  precious  things,  and  which  associated  the  pos 
session  of  them  with  the  warmer  regions  of  the  globe. 

"  To  the  south,"  said  Peter  Martyr.  "  He  who  would  find 
riches  must  avoid  the  cold  north !  " 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  349 

Navarrete  preserves  a  letter  which  was  written  to  Columbus 
by  Jayme  Ferrer,  a  lapidary  of  distinction.  This  jew-  jayme  per. 
eler  confirmed  the  prevalent  notion,  and  said  that  in  rer> 
all  his  intercourse  with  distant  marts,  whence  Europe  derived 
its  gold  and  jewels,  he  had  learned  from  their  vendors  how 
such  objects  of  commerce  usually  came  in  greatest  abundance 
from  near  the  equator,  while  black  races  were  those  that  pre 
dominated  near  such  sources.  Therefore,  as  Ferrer  told  Colum 
bus,  steer  south  and  find  a  black  race,  if  you  would  get  at  such 
opulent  abundance.  The  Admiral  remembered  he  had  heard 
in  Espafiola  of  blacks  that  had  come  from  the  south  to  that 
island  in  the  past,  and  he  had  taken  to  Spain  some  of  the  metal 
which  had  been  given  to  him  as  of  the  kind  with  which  their 
javelins  had  been  pointed.  The  Spanish  assayers  had  found  it 
a  composition  of  gold,  copper,  and  silver. 

So  it  was  with  expectations  like  these  that  Columbus  now 
worked   his  way   south.     He  touched  for  wood  and 

J  Columbus 

water  at  Porto  Santo  and  Madeira,  and  thence  pro-  steers  south- 
ceeded  to  Gomera.      Here,  on  June  16,  he  found  a 

.  '         .  .  '  1498.     June 

.b  rench  cruiser  with  two  Spanish  prizes,  but  the  three   ie.   At  Go- 
ships  eluded  his  grasp  and  got  to  sea.     He  sent  three 
caravels  in  pursuit,  and  the  Spanish  prisoners  rising  on  the  crew 
of  one  of  the  prizes,  she  was  easily  captured  and  brought  into 
port. 

The  Spanish  fleet  sailed  again  on  June  21.    The  Admiral  had 
detailed  three  of  his  ships  to  proceed  direct  to  Espa- 

1        .     r  r         Sends  three 

nola  to  find  the  new  port  on  its  southern  side  near  the   ships  direct 

.  fJt,  to  Espafiola. 

mines  of  Hayna.  Their  respective  captains  were  to 
command  the  little  squadron  successively  a  week  at  a  time. 
These  men  were  :  Alonso  Sanchez  de  Carvajal,  a  man  of  good 
reputation  ;  Pedro  de  Arona,  a  brother  of  Beatrix  de  Henriquez, 
,vho  had  borne  Ferdinand  to  the  Admiral ;  and  Juan  Antonio 
Colombo,,  a  Genoese  and  distant  kinsman  of  the  Admiral. 

Parting  with  these  vessels  off  Ferro,  Columbus,  with  the  three 
others,  —  one  of  which,  the  flagship,  being  decked,  of  a  hun 
dred  tons  burthen,  and  requiring  three   fathoms  of  water,  — 
steered  for  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands.     His  stay  here   Columbus 
was  not  inspiring.    A  depressing  climate  of  vapor  and  deVerdepe 
an  arid  landscape  told  upon  his  health  and  upon  that  Islands 
of  his  crew.     Encountering  difficulties   in   getting  fresh   pro- 


350  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBU^. 

visions  and  cattle,  he  sailed  again  on  July  5,  standing  to  the 
southwest.  Calms  and  the  currents  among  the  islands  baffled 
him,  however,  and  it  was  the  7th  before  the  high  peak  of  Del 
1498.  July  Fuego  sank  astern.  By  the  15th  of  July  he  had 

reached  the  latitude  of  5°  north.  He  was  now  within 
the  verge  of  the  equatorial  calms.  The  air  soon  burned  every 
thing  distressingly ;  the  rigging  oozed  with  the  running  tar  : 
caims  and  tne  seams  of  the  vessels  opened ;  provisions  grew 
torrid  heats.  putri<j,  and  the  wine  casks  shrank  and  leaked.  The 
fiery  ordeal  called  for  all  the  constancy  of  the  crew,  and  the 
Admiral  himself  needed  all  the  fortitude  he  could  command  to 
bear  a  brave  face  amid  the  twinges  of  gout  which  were  prostrat 
ing  him.  He  changed  his  course  to  see  if  he  could  not  run  out 
of  the  intolerable  heat,  and  after  a  tedious  interval,  with  no 
cessation  of  the  humid  and  enervating  air,  the  ships  gradually 
drew  into  a  fresher  atmosphere.  A  breeze  rippled  the  water, 
and  the  sun  shone  the  more  refreshing  for  its  clearness.  He 
now  steered  due  west,  hoping  to  find  land  before  his  water  and 
provisions  failed.  He  did  not  discover  land  as  soon  as  he  ex- 
1498  Jui  Pec*ed,  and  so  bore  away  to  the  north,  thinking  to  see 
si.  Trinidad  some  of  the  Carib  Islands.  On  July  31  relief  came, 

none  too  soon,  for  their  water  was  nearly  exhausted. 
A  mariner,  about  midday,  peering  about  from  the  masthead, 
saw  three  peaks  just  rising  above  the  horizon.  The  cry  of  land 
was  like  a  benison.  The  Salve  Regina  was  intoned  in  every 
part  of  the  ship.  Columbus  now  headed  the  fleet  for  the  land. 
As  the  ships  went  on  and  the  three  peaks  grew  into  a  triple 
mountain,  he  gave  the  island  the  name  of  Trinidad,  a  reminder 
in  its  peak  of  the  Trinity,  which  he  had  determined  at  the  start 
to  commemorate  by  bestowing  that  appellation  on  the  first  land 
he  saw.  He  coasted  the  shore  of  this  island  for  some  distance 
before  he  could  find  a  harbor  to  careen  his  ships  and  replenish 

his  water  casks.     On  August  1  he  anchored  to  get 

water,  and  was  surprised  at  the  fresh  luxuriance  of 
the  country.  He  could  see  habitations  in  the  interior,  but  no 
where  along  the  shore  were  any  signs  of  occupation.  His  men, 
while  filling  the  casks,  discovered  footprints  and  other  traces  of 
human  life,  but  those  who  made  them  kept  out  of  sight. 

He  was  now  on  the  southern  side  of  the  island,  and  in  that 
channel  which  separates  Trinidad  from  the  low  country  about 


THE    THIRD    VOYAGE.  351 

the  mouths  of  the  Orinoco.     Before  long  he  could  see  the  oppo 
site  coast  stretching  away  for  twenty  leagues,  but  he   Firs 
did  not  suspect  it  to  be  other  than  an  island,  which 
he  named  La  Isla  Santa.  coast- 

It  was  indeed  strange  but  not  surprising  that  Columbus  found 
an  island  of  a  new  continent,  and  supposed  it  the  mainland  of 
the  Old  World,  as  happened  during  his  earlier  voyages ;  and 
equally  striking  it  was  that  now  when  he  had  actually  seen  the 
mainland  of  a  new  world  he  did  not  know  it. 

By  the  2d  of  August  the  Admiral  had  approached  that  nar 
row  channel  where  the  southwest  corner  of  Trinidad  1498  Au_ 
comes  nearest  to  the  mainland,  and  here  he  anchored.  gust2> 
A  large  canoe,  containing  five  and  twenty  Indians,  put  off  to 
wards  his  ships,  but  finally  its  occupants  lay  upon  their  paddles 
a  bowshot  away.  Columbus  describes  them  as  comely  in  shape, 
naked  but  for  breech-cloths,  and  wearing  variegated  scarfs  about 
their  heads.  They  were  lighter  in  skin  than  any  Indians  he  had 
seen  before.  This  fact  was  not  very  promising  in  view  of  the 
belief  that  precious  products  would  be  found  in  a  country  in 
habited  by  blacks.  The  men  had  bucklers,  too,  a  defense  he 
had  never  seen  before  among  these  new  tribes.  He  tried  to 
lure  them  on  board  by  showing  trinkets,  and  by  improvising 
some  music  and  dances  among  his  crew.  The  last  expedient 
was  evidently  looked  upon  as  a  challenge,  and  was  met  by  a 
flight  of  arrows.  Two  crossbows  were  discharged  in  return,  and 
the  canoe  fled.  The  natives  seemed  to  have  less  fear  of  the 
smaller  caravels,  and  approached  near  enough  for  the  captain 
of  one  of  them  to  throw  some  presents  to  them,  a  cap,  and  a 
mantle,  and  the  like  ;  but  when  the  Indians  saw  that  a  boat  was 
sent  to  the  Admiral's  ship,  they  again  fled. 

While  here  at  anchor,  the  crew  were  permitted  to  go  ashore 
and  refresh  themselves.  They  found  much  delight  in  the  cool 
air  of  the  morning  and  evening,  coming  after  their  experiences 
of  the  torrid  suffocation  of  the  calm  latitudes.  Nature  had 
appeared  to  them  never  so  fresh. 

Columbus  grew  uneasy  in  his  insecure  anchorage,  for  he  had 
discovered  as  yet  no  roadstead.  He  saw  the  current  flowing 
by  with  a  strength  that  alarmed  him.  The  waters  seemed  to 
tumble  in  commotion  as  they  were  jammed  together  in  the  nar 
row  pass  before  him.  It  was  his  first  experience  of  that 


352  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

African  current  which,  setting  across  the  ocean,  plunges  here 
in  Gulf  abouts  into  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and,  sweeping  around 
the  great  gulf,  passes  north  in  what  we  know  as  the 
Gulf  Stream.  Columbus  was  as  yet  ignorant,  too,  of  the  great 
masses  of  water  which  the  many  mouths  of  the  Orinoco  dis 
charge  along  this  shore;  and  when  at  night  a  great  roaring 
billow  of  water  came  across  the  channel,  —  very  likely  an  un 
usual  volume  of  the  river  water  poured  out  of  a  sudden,  —  and 
he  found  his  own  ship  lifting  at  her  anchor  and  one  of  his  cara 
vels  snapping  her  cable,  he  felt  himself  in  the  face  of  new  dan 
gers,  and  of  forces  of  nature  to  which  he  was  not  accustomed. 
To  a  seaman's  senses  not  used  to  such  phenomena,  the  situation 
of  the  ships  was  alarming.  Before  him  was  the  surging  flow 
of  the  current  through  the  narrow  pass,  which  he  had  already 
Boca  del  named  the  Mouth  of  the  Serpent  (Boca  del  Sierpe). 
Sierpe.  »po  attempt  its  passage  was  almost  foolhardy.  To  re 
turn  along  the  coast  stemming  such  a  current  seemed  nearly  im 
possible.  He  then  sent  his  boats  to  examine  the  pass,  and  they 
found  more  water  than  was  supposed,  and  on  the  assurances  of 
the  pilot,  and  the  wind  favoring,  he  headed  his  ships  for  the 
boiling  eddies,  passed  safely  through,  and  soon  reached  the 
placid  water  beyond.  The  shore  of  Trinidad  stretched  north 
erly,  and  he  turned  to  follow  it,  but  somebody  getting  a  taste  of 
the  water  found  it  to  be  fresh.  Here  was  a  new  surprise.  He 
GUM  of  nad  n°t  ye*  comprehended  that  he  was  within  a  land 
locked  gulf,  where  the  rush  of  the  Orinoco  sweetens 
the  tide  throughout.  As  he  approached  the  northwestern  limit 
of  Trinidad,  he  found  that  a  loft}7  cape  jutted  out  opposite  a 
similar  headland  to  the  west,  and  that  between  them  lay  a 
second  surging  channel,  beset  with  rocks  and  seeming  to  be 
more  dangerous  than  the  last.  So  he  gave  it  a  more  ferocious 
Boca  del  name,  the  Mouth  of  the  Dragon  (Boca  del  Drago). 
Drago.  rpo  fo^ow  tke  opposite  coast  presented  an  alternative 
that  did  not  require  so  much  risk,  and,  still  ignorant  of  the  way 
in  which  his  fleet  was  embayed  in  this  marvelous  water,  he  ran 
across  on  Sunday,  August  5,  to  the  opposite  shore.  He  now 
coasted  it  to  find  a  better  opening  to  the  north,  for  he  had  sup 
posed  this  slender  peninsula  to  be  another  island.  The  water 
grew  fresher  as  he  went  on.  The  shore  attracted  him,  with  its 
harbors  and  salubrious,  restful  air,  but  he  was  anxious  to  get 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE. 


353 


into  the  open  sea.  He  saw  no  inhabitants.  The  liveliest  crea 
tures  which  he  observed  were  the  chattering  monkeys.  At 
length,  the  country  becoming  more  level,  he  ran  into  the  mouth 


GULF  OF  PARIA. 


of  a  river  and  cast  anchor.  It  was  perhaps  here  that  the 
Spaniards  first  set  foot  on  the  continent.  The  accounts  are 
somewhat  confused,  and  need  some  license  in  reconciling  them. 
They  had,  possibly,  landed  earlier. 


354  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

A  canoe  with  three  natives  now  came  out  to  the  caravel  near 
est  shore.  The  Spanish  captain  secured  the  men  by  a  clever 
trick.  After  a  parley,  he  gave  them  to  understand  he  would  go 
on  shore  in  their  boat,  and  jumping  violently  on  its  gunwale, 
he  overturned  it.  The  occupants  were  easily  captured  in  the 
water.  Being  taken  on  board  the  flagship,  the  inevitable  hawks' 
bells  captivated  them,  and  they  were  set  on  shore  to  delight 
their  fellows.  Other  parleys  and  interchanges  of  gifts  fol 
lowed.  Columbus  now  ascertained,  as  well  as  he  could  by  signs, 
that  the  word  "  Paria,"  which  he  heard,  was  the  name 
of  the  country.  The  Indians  pointed  westerly,  and 
indicated  that  men  were  much  more  numerous  that  way.  The 
Spaniards  were  struck  with  the  tall  stature  of  the  men,  and 
noted  the  absence  of  braids  in  their  hair.  It  was  curious  to  see 
them  smell  of  everything  that  was  new  to  them,  —  a  piece  of 
brass,  for  instance.  It  seemed  to  be  their  sense  of  inquiry  and 
recognition.  It  is  not  certain  if  Columbus  participated  in  this 
intercourse  on  shore.  He  was  suffering  from  a  severe  eruption 
of  the  eyes,  and  one  of  the  witnesses  said  that  the  formal  tak 
ing  possession  of  the  country  was  done  by  deputy  on  that  ac 
count.  This  statement  is  contradicted  by  others. 

As  he  went  on,  the  country  became  even  more  attractive,  with 
its  limpid  streams,  its  open  and  luxuriant  woods,  its  clambering 
vines,  all  enlivened  with  the  flitting  of  brilliant  birds.  So  he 
called  the  place  The  Gardens.  The  natives  appeared 
to  him  to  partake  of  the  excellence  of  the  country. 
They  were,  as  he  thought,  manlier  in  bearing,  shapelier  in  frame, 
with  greater  intelligence  in  their  eyes,  than  any  he  had  earlier 
discovered.  Their  arts  were  evidently  superior  to  anything  he 
had  yet  seen.  Their  canoes  were  handier,  lighter,  and  had 
covered  pavilions  in  the  waist.  There  were  strings  of  pearls 
upon  the  women  which  raised  in  the  Spaniards  an  increased 
sense  of  cupidity.  The  men  found  oysters  clinging  to  the 
boughs  that  drooped  along  the  shore.  Columbus  recalled  how 
he  had  read  in  Pliny  of  the  habit  of  the  pearl  oyster  to  open 
the  mouth  to  catch  the  dew,  which  was  converted  within  into 
pearls.  The  people  were  as  hospitable  as  they  were  gracious, 
and  gave  the  strangers  feasts  as  they  passed  from  cabin  to 
cabin.  They  pointed  beyond  the  hills,  and  signified  that  another 
coast  lay  there,  where  a  greater  store  of  pearls  could  be  found. 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  355 

To  leave  this  paradise  was  necessary,  and  on  August  10  the 
ships  went  further  on,  soon  to  find  the  water  growing  1498  Au. 
still  fresher  and  more  shallow.  At  last,  thinking  it  sustl°- 
dangerous  to  push  his  flagship  into  such  shoals,  Columbus  sent 
his  lightest  caravel  ahead,  and  waited  her  coming  back.  On  the 
next  day  she  returned,  and  reported  that  there  was  an  inner  bay 
beyond  the  islands  which  were  seen,  into  which  large  volumes  of 
fresh  water  poured,  as  if  a  huge  continent  were  drained.  Here 
were  conditions  for  examination  under  more  favorable  circum 
stances,  and  on  August  11  Columbus  turned  his  prow  toward  the 
Dragon's  Mouth.  His  stewards  declared  the  provisions  growing 
bad,  and  even  the  large  stores  intended  for  the  colony  were 
beginning  to  spoil.  It  was  necessary  to  reach  his  destination. 
Columbus's  own  health  was  sinking.  His  gout  had  little  cessa 
tion.  His  eyes  had  almost  closed  with  a  weariness  that  he  had 
before  experienced  on  the  Cuban  cruise,  and  he  could  but  think 
of  the  way  in  which  he  had  been  taken  prostrate  into  Isabella 
on  returning  from  that  expedition. 

Near  the  Dragon's  Mouth  he  found  a  harbor  in  which  to  pre 
pare  for  the  passage  of  the  tumultuous  strait.    There  seemed  no 
escape  from  the  trial.    The  passage  lay  before  him,  wide  enough 
in  itself,  but  two  islands  parted  its  currents  and  forced  the  boil 
ing  waters  into    narrower  confines.      Columbus    studied  their 
motion,  and  finally  made  up  his  mind  that  the  turmoil  of  the 
waters  might  after  all  come  from  the  meeting  of  the  tide  and 
the  fresh  currents  seeking  the  open  sea,  and  not  from  rocks  or 
shoals.    At  all  events,  the  passage  must  be  made.    The 
wind  veering  round  to  the  right  quarter,  he  set  sail  and  BoSfdei6 
entered  the  boisterous  currents.     As  long  as  the  wind 
lasted  there  was  a  good  chance  of  keeping  his  steering  way.    Un 
fortunately,  the  wind  died  away,  and  so  he  trusted  to  luck  and 
the  sweeping  currents.     They  carried  him  safely  beyond.     Once 
without,  he  was  brought  within  sight  of  two  islands  to  the  north 
east.  They  were  apparently  those  we  to-day  call  Tobago  Tobago  and 
and  Grenada.     It  was  now  the  15th  of  August,  and  Grenada- 
Columbus  turned  westward  to  track  the  coast.     He  came  to  the 
islands  of  Cubagua  and  Margarita,  and  surprised  some  native 
canoes  fishing  for  pearls.    His  crews  soon  got  into  par-  Cubaguaand 
ley  with  the  natives,  and  breaking  up  some  Valentia  Margarit»- 
ware  into  bits,  the  Spaniards  bartered  them  so  successfully  that 


356  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

they  secured  three  pounds,  as  Columbus  tells  us,  of  the  coveted 
jewels.  He  had  satisfied  himself  that  here  was  a  new 
field  for  the  wealth  which  could  alone  restore  his  credit 
in  Spain  ;  but  he  could  not  tarry.  As  he  wore  ship,  he  left 
behind  a  mountainous  reach  of  the  coast  that  stretched  westerly, 
and  he  would  fain  think  that  India  lay  that  way,  as  it  had  from 
Cuba.  At  that  island  and  here,  he  had  touched,  as  he  thought, 
the  confines  of  Asia,  two  protuberant  peninsulas,  or  perhaps 
masses  of  the  continent,  separated  by  a  strait,  which  possibly 
lay  ahead  of  him. 

There  was  much  that  had  been  novel  in  all  these  experiences. 
Columbus  felt  that  the  New  World  was  throwing  wider  open 
the  gates  of  its  sublime  secrets.     Lying  on  his  couch,  almost 
helpless  from  the  cruel  agonies  of  the  gout,  and  sight- 
less  from  the  malady  of  his  eyes,  the  active  mind  of 


the  Admiral  worked  at  the  old  problems  anew.  We 
know  it  all  from  the  letter  which  a  few  weeks  later  he  drafted 
for  the  perusal  of  his  sovereigns,  and  from  his  reports  to  Peter 
Martyr,  which  that  chronicler  has  preserved  for  us.  We  know 
from  this  letter  that  his  thoughts  were  still  dwelling  on  the 
Mount  Sopora  of  Solomon,  "  which  mountain  your  Highnesses 
now  possess  in  the  island  of  Espanola,"  —  a  convenient  step 
ping-stone  to  other  credulous  fancies,  as  we  shall  see.  The 
sweetness  and  volume  of  the  water  which  had  met  him  in  the 
Gulf  of  Paria  were  significant  to  him  of  a  great  watershed  be 
hind.  He  reverted  to  the  statement  in  Esdras  of  the  vast  pre 
ponderance  on  the  globe  of  land,  six  parts  to  one  of  water,  and 
thought  he  saw  a  confirmation  of  it  in  the  immense  flow  that 
argued  a  corresponding  expansion  of  land.  He  recalled  all  that 
lie  recollected  of  Aristotle  and  the  other  sages.  He  went  back 
to  his  experiences  in  mid-ocean,  when  he  was  startled  at  the  coin 
cidence  of  the  needle  and  the  pole  star.  He  remembered  how 
he  had  found  all  the  conditions  of  temperature  and  the  other 
physical  aspects  to  be  changed  as  he  passed  that  line,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  he  was  sweeping  into  regions  more  ethereal.  He 
had  found  the  same  difference  when  he  passed,  a  few  weeks 
before,  out  of  the  baleful  heats  of  the  tropical  calms.  He  grew 
to  think  that  this  line  of  no  variation  of  magnetism  with  corre 
sponding  marvels  of  nature  marked  but  the  beginning  of  a  new 
section  of  the  earth  that  no  one  had  dreamed  of.  St.  Augus- 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  357 

tine,  St.  Basil,  and  St.  Ambrose  had  placed  the  Garden  of  Eden 
far  in  the  Old  World's  east,  apart  from  the  common  vicinage  of 
men,  high  up  above  the  baser  parts  of  the  earth,  in  a  region 


PRE-COLUMBIAN  MAPPEMONDE,  PRESERVED  AT  RAVENNA,  RESTORED  BY  GRA- 
VIER  AFTER  D'AVEZAC  IN  BULLETIN  LE  LA  SOCIETE  NORMANDE,  1888. 

bathed  in  the  purest  ether,  and  so  high  that  the  deluge  had  not 
reached  it.  All  the  stories  of  the  Middle  Ages,  absorbed  in  the 
speculative  philosophy  of  his  own  time,  had  pointed  to  the  dis 
tant  east  as  the  seat  of  Paradise,  and  was  he  not  now  coming  to 
it  by  the  western  passage  ?  If  the  scant  riches  of  the  soil  could 
not  restore  the  enthusiasm  which  his  earlier  discoveries  aroused 
in  the  dull  spirits  of  Europe,  would  not  a  glimpse  of  the  ecstatic 
pleasures  of  Eden  open  their  eyes  anew  ?  He  had  endeavored 


358  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

to  make  his  contemporaries  feel  that  the  earth  was  round,  and 
he  had  proved  it,  as  he  thought,  by  almost  touching,  in  a  west 
ward  passage,  the  Golden  Chersonesus.  It  is  significant  that 
the  later  Historie  of  1571  omits  this  vagary  of  Paradise.  The 
world  had  moved,  and  geographical  discovery  had  made  some 
records  in  the  interim,  awkward  for  the  biographer  of  Co 
lumbus. 

There  was  a  newer  belief  linked  with  this  hope  of  Paradise. 
Paradise  All  this  wondrous  life  and  salubrity  which  Columbus 
saw  and  felt,  if  it  had  not  been  able  to  restore  his 
health,  could  only  come  from  his  progress  up  a  swelling  apex  of 
the  earth,  which  buttressed  the  Garden  of  Eden.  It  was  clear  to 
his  mind  that  instead  of  being  round  the  earth  was  pear-shaped, 
and  that  this  great  eminence,  up  which  he  had  been  going,  was 
constantly  lifting  him  into  purer  air.  The  great  fountain  which 
watered  the  spacious  garden  of  the  early  race  had  discharged  its 
currents  down  these  ethereal  slopes,  and  sweetened  all  this  gulf 
that  had  held  him  so  close  within  its  embaying  girth.  If  such 
were  the  wonders  of  these  outposts  of  the  celestial  life,  what 
must  be  the  products  to  be  seen  as  one  journeyed  up,  along  the 
courses  of  such  celestial  streams  ?  As  he  steered  for  Espanola, 
he  found  the  currents  still  helped  him,  or  he  imagined  they  did. 
Was  it  not  that  he  was  slipping  easily  down  this  wonderful  de 
clivity  ? 

That  he  had  again  discovered  the  mainland  he  was  convinced 
by  such  speculations.  He  had  no  conception  of  the  physical 
truth.  The  vagaries  of  his  time  found  in  him  the  creature  of 
their  most  rampant  hallucinations.  This  aberration  was  a  potent 
cause  in  depriving  him  of  the  chance  to  place  his  own  name  on 
this  goal  of  his  ambition.  It  accounts  much  for  the  greater  im 
pression  which  Americus  Vespucius,  with  his  clearer  instincts, 
was  soon  to  make  on  the  expectant  and  learned  world.  The 
voyage  of  that  Florentine  merchant,  one  of  those  trespassers 
that  Columbus  complained  of,  was,  before  the  Admiral  should 
see  Spain  again,  to  instigate  the  publication  of  a  narrative, 
which  took  from  its  true  discoverer  the  rightful  baptism  of  the 
world  he  had  unwittingly  found.  The  wild  imaginings  of  Co 
lumbus,  gathered  from  every  resource  of  the  superstitious  past, 
moulded  by  him  into  beliefs  that  appealed  but  little  to  the 
soberer  intelligence  of  his  time,  made  known  in  tumultuous 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  359 

writings,  and  presently  to  be  expressed  with  every  symptom  of 
mental  wandering  in  more  elaborate  treatises,  offered  to  his 
time  an  obvious  contrast  to  the  steadier  head  of  Ves- 

.       .  Columbus 

pucius.      The   latter  s   far   more  graphic  description  and  ves- 
gained  for  him,  as  we  shall  see,  the  position  of  a  rec 
ognized  authority.      While   Columbus   was   puzzling  over  the 
aberration  of  the  pole  star  and  misshaping  the  earth,  Vespucius 
was  comprehending  the  law  of  gravitation  upon  our  floating 
sphere,  and  ultimately  representing  it  in  the  diagram  which 
illustrated  his   narrative.     We  shall  need  to  return  on  a  later 
page  to  these  causes  which  led  to  the  naming  of  America. 

For  four  days  Columbus  had  sailed  away  to  the  northwest, 
coming  to  the  wind  every  night  as  a  precaution,  before 
he  sighted  Espanola  on  August  19,  being  then,  as  he  gust'ig. 
made  out,  about  fifty  leagues  west  of  the  spot  where  sees  Espa- 
he  supposed  the  port   had   been  established  for  the 
mines  of  Hayna.     He  thought  that  he  had  been  steering  nearer 
that  point,  but  the  currents  had  probably  carried  him  uncon 
sciously  west  by  night,  as  they  were  at  that  moment  doing  with 
the  relief  ships  that  he  had  parted  with  off  Ferro.     As  Colum 
bus  speculated  on  this  steady  flow  of  waters  with  that  keenness 
of  observation  upon  natural  phenomena  which  attracted  the  ad 
miration  of  Humboldt,  and  which  is  really  striking,  if  we  sep 
arate  it  from  his  turbulent  fancies,  he  accounted  by  its 
attrition  for  the  predominating  shape  of  the  islands  tiins°ofen 
which  he  had  seen,  which  had  their  greatest  length  in 
the  direction  of  the  current.     He  knew  that  its  force  would, 
perhaps,  long  delay  him  in  his  efforts  to  work  eastward,  and  so 
he  opened  communication  with  the  shore  in  hopes  to  find  a  mes 
senger  by  whom  to  dispatch  a  letter  to  the  Adelantado.     This 
was  easily  done,  and  the  letter  reached  its  destination,  where 
upon  Bartholomew  started  out  in  a  caravel  to  meet  the  little  fleet. 
It  was  with  some  misgiving  that  Columbus  resumed  his  course, 
for  he  had  seen  a  crossbow  in  the  hands  of  a  native.     It  was 
not  an  article  of  commerce,  and  it  might  signify  another  dis 
aster  like  that  of  La  Navidad.     He  was  accordingly  relieved 
when  he    shortly  afterwards   saw  a  Spanish  caravel  Meetsthe 
approaching,  and,  hailing  the  vessel,  found  that  the  Adelantado- 
Adelantado  had  come  to  greet  him. 


360  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

There  was  much  interchange  of  news  and  thought  to  occupy 
the  two  in  their  first  conference  ;  and  Colurabus's  anxiety  to 
know  the  condition  of  the  colony  elicited  a  wearisome  story, 
little  calculated  to  make  any  better  record  in  Spain  than  the 
reports  of  his  own  rule  in  the  island.  * 

The  chief  points  of  it  were  these  :  Bartholomew  had  early 
carried  out  the  Admiral's  behests  to  occupy  the  Hayna 
country.  He  had  built  there  a  fortress  which  he 


L  of     had  named  St.  Cristoval,  but  the  workmen,  finding  par 
ticles  of  gold  in  the  stones  and  sands  which  they  used, 
had  nicknamed  it  the  Golden  Tower.     While  this  was  doing, 
there  was  difficulty  in  supporting;  the  workmen.     Pro- 

Santo  .    .  j  55    T    JT  ^   •       v        i 

Domingo  visions  were  scarce,  and  the  Indians  were  not  inclined 
to  part  with  what  they  had.  The  Adelantado  could  go 
to  the  Vega  and  exact  the  quarterly  tribute  under  compulsion  ; 
but  that  hardly  sufficed  to  keep  famine  from  the  door  at  St. 
Oristoval.  Nothing  had  as  yet  been  done  to  plant  the  ground 
near  the  fort,  nor  had  herds  been  moved  there.  The  settlement 
of  Isabella  was  too  far  away  for  support.  Meanwhile  Nino  had 
arrived  with  his  caravels,  but  he  had  not  brought  all  the  ex 
pected  help,  for  the  passage  had  spoiled  much  of  the  lading. 
It  was  by  Nino  that  Bartholomew  received  that  dispatch  from 
his  brother  which  he  had  written  in  the  harbor  of  Cadiz  when, 
on  his  arrival  from  his  second  voyage,  he  had  discerned  the  con 
dition  of  public  opinion.  It  was  at  this  time,  too,  that  he  re 
peated  to  Bartholomew  the  decision  of  the  theologians,  that  to  be 
taken  in  war,  or  to  be  guilty  of  slaying  any  of  their  Majesties' 
liege  subjects,  was  quite  enough  to  render  the  Indians  fit  sub- 
coiumbus  jec*s  f°r  *he  slave-block.  The  Admiral's  directions, 
and  slavery,  therefore,  were  to  be  sure  that  this  test  kept  up  the  sup 
ply  of  slaves  ;  and  as  there  was  nobody  to  dispute  the  judg 
ment  of  his  deputy,  Nino  had  taken  back  to  Spain  those  three 
hundred,  which  were,  as  we  have  seen,  so  readily  converted  into 
reputed  gold  on  his  arrival. 

Bartholomew  had  selected  the  site  for  a  new  town  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Ozema,  convenient  for  the  shipment  of  the  Hayna 
treasure,  and,  naming  it  at  first  the  New  Isabella,  it 
soon  received  the  more  permanent  appellation  of  Santo 


Domingo,  which  it  still  bears. 


Bartholomew  had  a  pleasing  story  to  tell  of  the  way  in  which 


THE   THIRD   VOYAGE.  361 

he  had  brought  Behechio  and  his  province  of  Xaragua  into 
subjection.  This  territory  was  the  region  westward  Xaragua 
from  about  the  point  where  Columbus  had  touched  the  con(iuered 
island  a  few  days  before.  Anacaona,  the  wife  of  Caonabo,  — 
now  indeed  his  widow,  — had  taken  refuge  with  Be 
hechio,  her  brother,  after  the  fall  of  her  husband,  and60 
She  is  represented  as  a  woman  of  fine  appearance, 
and  more  delicate  and  susceptible  in  her  thoughts  than  was 
usual  among  her  people ;  and  perhaps  Bartholomew  told  his 
brother  what  has  since  been  surmised  by  Spanish  writers,  that 
she  had  managed  to  get  word  to  him  of  her  friendly  sentiments 
for  celestial  visitors.  Bartholomew  found,  as  he  was  marching 
thither  with  such  forces  as  he  could  spare  for  the  expedition, 
that  the  cacique  who  met  him  in  battle  array  was  easily  dis 
posed,  for  some  reason  or  other,  perhaps  through  Anacaona's  in 
fluence,  to  dismiss  his  armed  warriors,  and  to  escort  his  visitor 
through  his  country  with  great  parade  of  hospitality.  When 
they  reached  the  cacique's  chief  town,  a  sort  of  fete  was  pre 
pared  in  the  Adelantado's  honor,  and  a  mock  battle,  not  with 
out  sacrifice  of  life,  was  fought  for  his  delectation.  Peter 
Martyr  tells  us  that  when  the  comely  young  Indian  maidens 
advanced  with  their  palm  branches  and  saluted  the  Adelantado, 
it  seemed  as  if  the  beautiful  dryads  of  the  olden  tales  had 
slipped  out  of  the  vernal  woods.  Then  Anacaona  appeared  on 
a  litter,  with  no  apparel  but  garlands,  the  most  beautiful  dryad 
of  them  all.  Everybody  feasted,  and  Bartholomew,  to  ingratiate 
himself  with  his  host,  eat  and  praised  their  rarest  delicacy,  the 
guana  lizard,  which  had  been  offered  to  them  many  times  before, 
but  which  they  never  as  yet  had  tasted.  It  became  after  this 
a  fashion  with  the  Spaniards  to  dote  on  lizard  flesh.  Every 
thing  within  the  next  two  or  three  days  served  to  cement  this 
new  friendship,  when  the  Adelantado  put  it  to  a  test,  as  indeed 
had  been  his  purpose  from  the  beginning.  He  told  the  cacique 
of  the  great  power  of  his  master  and  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns ; 
of  their  gracious  regard  for  all  their  distant  subjects,  and  of  the 
poor  recompense  of  a  tribute  which  was  expected  for  their  pro 
tection.  "  Gold !  "  exclaimed  the  cacique,  "  we  have  no  gold 
here."  "  Oh,  whatever  you  have,  cotton,  hemp,  cassava  bread, 
—  anything  will  be  acceptable."  So  the  details  were  arranged. 
The  cacique  was  gratified  at  being  let  off  so  easy,  and  the  Span 
iards  went  their  way. 


362  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

This  and  the  subsequent  visit  of  Bartholomew  to  Xaragua  to 
receive  the  tribute  were  about  the  only  cheery  incidents  in  the 
dreary  retrospect  to  which  the  Admiral  listened.  The  rest  was 
trouble  and  despair.  A  line  of  military  posts  had  been  built 
connecting  the  two  Spanish  settlements,  and  the  manning  of 
them,  with  their  dependent  villages,  enabled  the  Adelantado  to 
scatter  a  part  of  the  too  numerous  colony  at  Isabella,  so  that 
it  might  be  relieved  of  so  many  mouths  to  feed.  This  done, 
Native  con-  there  was  a  conspiracy  of  the  natives  to  be  crushed, 
apiracy.  rpwo  Q£  ^  pries^s  jja(j  ma^.e  some  converts  in  the 
Vega,  and  had  built  a  chapel  for  the  use  of  the  neophytes.  One 
of  the  Spaniards  had  outraged  a  wife  of  the  cacique.  Either 
for  this  cause,  or  for  the  audacious  propagandism  of  the  priests, 
some  natives  broke  into  the  Spanish  chapel,  destroyed  its 
shrine,  and  buried  some  of  its  holy  vessels  in  a  field.  Plants 
grew  up  there  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  say  the  veracious  narra 
tors.  This,  nevertheless,  did  not  satisfy  the  Spaniards.  They 
seized  such  Indians  as  they  considered  to  have  been  engaged  in 
the  desecration,  and  gave  them  the  fire  and  fagots,  as  they 
would  have  done  to  Moor  or  Jew.  The  horrible  punishment 
aroused  the  cacique  Guarionex  with  a  new  fury.  He  leagued 
the  neighboring  caciques  into  a  conspiracy.  Their  combined 
forces  were  threatening  Fort  Conception  when  the  Adelantado 
arrived  with  succor.  By  an  adroit  movement,  Bartholomew 
ensnared  by  night  every  one  of  the  leaders  in  their  villages,  and 
executed  two  of  them.  The  others  he  ostentatiously  pardoned, 
and  he  could  tell  Columbus  of  the  great  renown  he  got  for 
his  clemency. 

There  was  nothing  in  all  the  bad  tidings  which  Bartholomew 
Boidan's  ^ac^  *°  rehearse  quite  so  disheartening  as  the  revolt  of 
Roldan,  the  chief  judge  of  the  island,  —  a  man  who 
had  been  lifted  from  obscurity  to  a  position  of  such  importance 
that  Columbus  had  placed  the  administration  of  justice  in  his 
hands.  The  reports  of  the  unpopularity  of  Columbus  in  Spain, 
and  the  growing  antipathy  in  Isabella  to  the  rule  of  Bartholo 
mew  as  a  foreigner,  had  served  to  consolidate  the  growing 
number  of  the  discontented,  and  Roldan  saw  the  opportunity  of 
easily  raising  himself  in  the  popular  estimate  by  organizing  the 
latent  spirit  of  rebellion.  It  was  even  planned  to  assassinate 
the  Adelantado,  under  cover  of  a  tumult,  which  was  to  be  raised 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  363 

at  an  execution  ordered  by  him ;  but  as  the  Adelantado  had  par 
doned  the  offender,  the  occasion  slipped  by.  Bartholomew's 
absence  in  Xaragua  gave  another  opportunity.  He  had  sent 
back  from  that  country  a  caravel  loaded  with  cotton,  as  a  trib 
ute,  and  Diego,  then  in  command  at  Isabella,  after  unlading  the 
vessel,  drew  her  up  on  the  beach.  The  story  was  busily  circu 
lated  that  this  act  was  done  simply  to  prevent  any  one  seizing 
the  ship  and  carrying  to  Spain  intelligence  of  the  misery  to  which 
the  rule  of  the  Colum buses  was  subjecting  the  people.  The 
populace  made  an  issue  on  that  act,  and  asked  that  the  vessel 
be  sent  to  Cadiz  for  supplies.  Diego  objected,  and  to  divert  the 
minds  of  the  rebellious,  as  well  as  to  remove  Roldan  from  their 
counsels,  he  sent  him  with  a  force  into  the  Vega,  to  overawe 
some  caciques  who  had  been  dilatory  in  their  tribute.  This 
mission,  however,  only  helped  Roldan  to  consolidate  his  faction, 
and  gave  him  the  chance  to  encourage  the  caciques  to  join  re 
sistance. 

Roldan  had  seventy  well-armed  men  in  his  party  when  he 
returned  to  Isabella  to  confront  Bartholomew,  who  had  by  this 
time  got  back  from  Xaragua.     The  Adelantado  was  not  so  eas 
ily  frightened  as  Roldan  had  hoped,  and   finding  it  not  safe 
to  risk  an  open  revolt,  this  mutinous  leader  withdrew  to  the 
Vega  with  the  expectation    of  surprising  Fort  Con-  Themuti 
ception.     That  post,  however,  as  well  as  an  outlying  neersmttie 
fortified  house,  was  under  loyal  command,  and  Rol 
dan  was  for  a   while  thwarted.     Bartholomew  was   not  at  all 
sure  of  any  of  the  principal  Spaniards,  but  how  far  the  disaf 
fection  had  gone  he  was  unable  to  determine.     Although  he 
knew  that  certain  leading  men  were  friendly  to  Roldan,  he  was 
not  prepared  to  be  passive.     His  safety  depended  on  resolution, 
and  so  he  marched  at  once  to  the  Vega.     Roldan  was  in  the 

O 

neighborhood,  and  was  invited  to  a  parley.     It  led  to  nothing. 
The  mutineers,  making  up  their  minds  to  fly  to  the  delightful 
pleasures  of  Xaragua,  suddenly  marched  back  to  Isa-  Atlsabella 
bella,    plundered    the    arsenal   and    storehouses,    and 
tried  to  launch  the  caravel.     The  vessel  was  too  firmly  imbed 
ded  to  move,  and  Roldan  was  forced  to  undertake  the  journey 
to  Xaragua  by  land.     To  leave  the  Adelantado  behind  was  a 
sure  way  to  bring  an  enemy  in  his  rear,  and   he  accordingly 
thought  it  safer  to  reduce  the  garrison  at  Conception,  and  per- 


364  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

haps  capture  the  Adelantado.  This  movement  failed;  but  it 
resulted  in  Roldan's  ingratiating  himself  with  the  tributary 
caciques,  and  intercepting  the  garrison's  supplies.  It  was  at 
this  juncture,  when  everything  looked  desperate  for  Barthol 
omew,  shut  up  in  the  Vega  fort,  that  news  reached  him  of  the 
arrival  (February  3,  1498)  at  the  new  port  of  Santo  Domingo 
Coroneiar-  °^  tne  advance  section  of  the  Admiral's  fleet,  sent 

thither,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  Queen's  assiduity, 
under  the  command  of  Pedro  Fernandez  Coronel. 

Bartholomew  could  tell  the  Admiral  of  the  good  effect  which 
the  intelligence  received  through  Coronel  had  on  the  colony. 
His  own  title  of  Adelantado,  it  was  learned,  was  legitimated  by 
the  act  of  the  sovereigns;  and  Columbus  himself  had  been 
powerful  enough  to  secure  confirmation  of  his  old  honors,  and 
to  obtain  new  pledges  for  the  future.  The  mutineers  soon  saw 
that  the  aspects  of  their  revolt  were  changed.  They  could  not, 
it  would  seem,  place  that  dependence  on  the  unpopularity  of  the 
Admiral  at  Court  which  had  been  a  good  part  of  their  encour 
agement. 

Proceeding  to  Santo  Domingo,  Bartholomew  proclaimed  his 

new  honors,  and,  anxious  to  pacificate  the  island  be- 
mew'snew  fore  the  arrival  of  Columbus,  he  dispatched  Coronel 

to  communicate  with  Roldan,  who  had  sulkily  followed 
the  Adelantado  in  his  march  from  the  Vega.  Roldan  refused 
all  intercourse,  and,  shielding  himself  behind  a  pass  in  the 
mountains,  he  warned  off  the  pacificator.  He  would  yield  to 
no  one  but  the  Admiral. 

There  was  nothing  for  the  Adelantado  to  do  but  to  outlaw  the 

rebels,  who,  in  turn,  sped  away  to  what  Irving  calls  the 

"soft  witcheries"  of  the  Xaragua  dryads.     The  arch- 


rebel  was  thus  well  out  of  the  way  for  a  time  ;  but  his 
influence  still  worked  among  the  Indians  of  the  Vega,  and  Bar 
tholomew  had  not  long  left  Conception  before  the  garrison  was 
made  aware  of  a  native  conspiracy  to  surprise  it. 

Word  was  sent  to  Santo  Domingo,  and  the  Adelantado  was 
Guarionex's  promptly  on  the  march  for  relief.  Guarionex,  who 
revolt.  ^ad  heaclecl  the  revolt  again,  fled  to  the  mountains  of 
Ciguay,  where  a  mountain  cacique,  Mayobanex,  the  same  who 
had  conducted  the  attack  on  the  Spaniards  at  the  Gulf  of  Sa- 
mana  during  the  first  voyage,  received  the  fugitive  chief  of  the 
valley. 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  365 

It  was  into  these  mountain  fastnesses  that  the  Adelantado 
now  pursued  the  fugitives,  with  a  force  of  ninety  foot,  a  few 
horse,  and  some  auxiliary  Indians.  He  boldly  thridded  the  de 
files,  and  crossed  the  streams,  under  the  showers  of  lances  and 
arrows.  As  the  native  hordes  fled  before  him,  he  fired  their 
villages  in  the  hope  of  forcing  the  Ciguayans  to  surrender  their 
guest ;  but  the  mountain  leaders  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to 
wrong  the  rights  of  hospitality.  When  no  longer  able  to  resist 
in  arms,  Mayobanex  and  Guarionex  fled  to  the  hills. 

The  Adelantado  now  sent  all  of  his  men  back  to  the  Vega  to 
look  after  the  crops,  except  about  thirty,  and  with  these  he 
scoured  the  region.  He  would  not  have  had  success  by  mere 
persistency,  but  he  got  it  by  artifice  and  treachery.  Both  Mayo 
banex  and  Guarionex  were  betrayed  in  their  hiding-places  and 
captured.  Clemency  was  shown  to  their  families  and  adherents, 
and  they  were  released  ;  but  both  caciques  remained  in  their 
bonds  as  hostages  for  the  maintenance  of  the  quiet  which  was 
now  at  last  in  some  measure  secured. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  when  Columbus  1498    Au_ 
arrived  and  heard  the    story  of   these   two   troubled  ESS' a?" 
years  and  more  during  which  he  had  been  absent. 

It  was  the  30th  of  August  when  Columbus  and  his  brother 
landed  at  Santo  Domingo.  There  had  not  been  much  to  encour 
age  the  Admiral  in  this  story  of  the  antecedent  events.  No  por 
trayal  of  riot,  dissolution,  rapine,  intrigue,  and  idleness  could 
surpass  what  he  saw  and  heard  of  the  bedraggled  and  impov 
erished  settlement  at  Isabella.  The  stores  which  he  had  brought 
would  be  helpful  in  restoring  confidence  and  health ;  but  it  was 
a  source  of  anxiety  to  him  that  nothing  had  been  heard  of  the 
three  caravels  from  which  he  had  parted  off  Ferro. 

These  vessels  appeared  not  long  afterwards,  bringing  a  new 
perplexity.     Forced  by  currents  which  their  crews  did  not  un 
derstand,  they  had  been  carried  westerly,  and   had  wandered 
about  in  the  unknown  seas  in  search  of  Espanola.     A  few  days 
before  reaching  Santo  Domingo,  the  ships  had  anchored  off  the 
territory  of  Behechio,  where. Roldan  and  his  followers 
already  were.     The  mutineers  observed  the  approach  the  belated 
of  the  caravels,  not  quite  sure  of  their  character,  think 
ing  possibly  that  they  had  been  dispatched  against  their  band ; 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

but  Roldan  boldly  went  on  board,  and,  ascertaining  their  condi 
tion,  he  had  the  address  to  represent  that  he  was  stationed  in 
that  region  to  collect  the  tribute,  and  was  in  need  of  stores, 
arms,  and  munitions.  The  commander  of  the  vessel  at  once 
sent  on  shore  what  he  demanded ;  and  while  this  was  going  on, 
Roldan's  men  ingratiated  themselves  with  the  company  on  board 
the  caravels;  and  readily  enlisted  a  part  of  them  in  the  revolt. 
The  new-comers,  being  some  of  the  emancipated  convicts  which 
Columbus  had  so  unwisely  registered  among  his  crews,  were  not 
difficult  to  entice  to  a  life  of  pleasure.  By  the  time  Roldan  had 
secured  his  supplies  and  was  ready  to  announce  his  true  charac 
ter,  it  was  not  certain  how  far  the  captains  of  the  vessels  could 
trust  their  crews.  The  chief  of  these  commanders  undertook, 
when  the  worst  was  known,  to  bring  the  revolters  back  to  their 
loyalty ;  but  he  argued  in  vain.  The  wind  being  easterly,  and 
to  work  up  against  it  to  Santo  Domingo  being  a  slow  process,  it 
was  decided  that  one  of  the  captains,  Colombo,  should  conduct 
about  forty  armed  men  by  land  to  the  new  town.  When  he 
lauded  them,  the  insidious  work  of  the  mutineers  became  appar 
ent.  Only  eight  of  his  party  stood  to  his  command,  and  over 
forty  marched  over  to  the  rebels,  each  with  his  arms.  The  over 
land  march  was  necessarily  given  up,  and  the  three  caravels,  to 
prevent  further  desertions,  hoisted  sail  and  departed.  Carvajal 
remained  behind  to  urge  Roldan  to  duty ;  but  the  most  he  could 
do  was  to  exact  a  promise  that  he  would  submit  to  the  Admiral 
if  pardoned,  but  not  to  the  Adelantado. 

The  report  which  Carvajal  made  to  Columbus,  when  shortly 
afterwards  he  joined  his  companions  in  Santo  Domingo,  com 
ing  by  land,  was  not  very  assuring.  Columbus  was  too  con 
scious  of  the  prevalence  of  discontent,  and  he  had  been  made 
painfully  aware  of  the  uncertainty  of  convict  loyalty.  He  then 
made  up  his  mind  that  all  such  men  were  a  menace,  and  that 
1498.  sep-  they  were  best  got  rid  of.  Accordingly  he  announced 
tember  12.  ^at  five  ships  were  ready  to  sail  for  Spain  and  would 
take  any  who  should  desire  to  go,  and  that  the  passage  would 
be  free. 

Learning  from  Carvajal  that  Roldan  was  likely  soon  to 
lead  his  men  near  Fort  Conception,  Columbus  notified  Miguel 
Ballester,  its  commander,  to  be  on  his  guard.  He  also  directed 
him  to  seek  an  interview  with  the  rebel  leader,  in  order  to  lure 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  367 

him  back  to  duty  by  offer  of  pardon  from  the  Admiral.  As 
soon  as  Ballester  heard  of  Roldan's  arrival  in  the  Roidaii  and 
neighborhood,  he  went  out  to  meet  him.  Eoldan,  how-  Ballester- 
ever,  was  in  no  mood  to  succumb.  His  force  had  grown,  and 
some  of  the  leading  Spaniards  had  been  drawn  towards  him. 
So  he  defied  the  Admiral  in  his  speeches,  and  sent  him  word 
that  if  he  had  any  further  communications  to  make  to  him  they 
should  be  sent  by  Carvajal,  for  he  would  treat  with  no  other. 
Columbus,  on  receiving  this  message,  and  not  knowing  how  far 
the  conspiracy  had  extended  among  those  about  him,  ordered 
out  the  military  force  of  the  settlement.  There  were  not  more 
than  seventy  men  to  respond  ;  nor  did  he  feel  much  confidence 
in  half  of  these.  There  being  little  chance  of  any  turn  of 
affairs  for  the  better  with  which  he  could  regale  the  1498  Octo. 
sovereigns,  Columbus  ordered  the  waiting  ships  to  sail,  lu^s^or 
and  on  October  18  they  put  to  sea.  Spain- 

The  ships  carried  two  letters  which  Columbus  had  written  to 
the  monarchs.  In  the  one  he  spoke  of  his  new  discoveries,  and 
of  the  views  which  had  developed  in  his  mind  from  the  new 
phenomena,  as  has  already  been  represented,  and  promised  that 
the  Adelantado  should  soon  be  dispatched  with  three  caravels 
to  make  further  explorations.  In  the  other  he  repeated  the 
story  of  events  since  he  had  landed  at  Santo  Domingo.  He 
urged  that  Roldan  might  be  recalled  to  Spain  for  examination, 
or  that  he  might  be  committed  to  the  custody  of  Carvajal  and 
Ballester  to  determine  the  foundation  of  his  grievances.  At  the 
same  time  he  requested  that  a  further  license  be  given,  to  last 
two  years,  for  the  capture  and  transmission  of  slaves,  coiumbus 
It  was  not  unlikely  that  the  case  of  Roldan  and  his  andslavery- 
abettors  was  represented  with  equal  confidence  in  other  letters, 
for  there  were  many  hands  among  the  passengers  to  which 
they  could  be  confided. 

The  ships  gone,  the  Admiral  gave  himself  to  the  difficult  task 
of  pacificating  the  colony.     The  vigorous  rule  of  the  Columbus 
Adelantado  had  made  enemies  who  were  to  be  propi-  qSthe 
tiated,  though  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  the  rule  had  colony- 
been  strict  no  farther  than  that  it  had  been  necessarily  imper 
ative  in  emergencies.    Columbus  wrote  on  October  20    1498    Oc. 
an  expostulatory  letter  to  Roldan.    To  send  it  by  Car-  tober  20> 
vajal,  as  was  necessary,  if  Roldan  was  to  receive  it,  would  be  to 


368  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

intrust  negotiations  to  a  person  who  was  already  committed  in 

some  sort  to  the  rebel's  plan,  or  at  least  some  of  the  Admiral's 

leading  councilors  believed  such  to  be  the  case,  apparently  too 

hastily.     Columbus  did  not  share  that  distrust,  and  Carvajal 

was  sent.     This  letter  crossed  one  from  the  leading  rebels,  in 

which  they  demanded  from  Columbus  release  from  his  service, 

and  expressed  their  determination  to  maintain  independence. 

When  Carvajal  reached  Bonao,  where  the  rebels  were  gath 

ered,  —  and  Ballester  had  accompanied  him,  —  their 

Conferences      ..  .  «•  -r»    i  i 

withRoi-  joint  persuasions  had  some  enect  011  Koldan  and  oth 
ers,  principal  rebels ;  but  the  followers,  as  a  mass,  ob 
jected  to  the  leaders  entering  into  any  conference  except  under 
a  written  guaranty  of  safety  for  them  and  those  that  should 
accompany  them.  This  message  was  accordingly  returned  to 
Columbus,  and  Ballester  at  the  same  time  wrote  to  him  that  the 
revolt  was  fast  making  head ;  that  the  garrisons  were  disaffected, 
and  losing  by  desertion ;  and  that  the  common  people  cou!4 
not  be  trusted  to  stand  by  the  Admiral  if  it  came  to  war.  He 
advised,  therefore,  a  speedy  reconciliation  or  agreement  of  some 
sort.  The  guaranty  was  sent,  and  Roldan  soon  presented  him 
self  to  the  Admiral.  The  demands  of  the  rebel  and  the  prerog 
atives  of  the  Admiral  were,  it  proved,  too  widely  apart  for  any 
accommodation.  So  Roldan,  having  possessed  himself  of  the  state 
H98.  NO-  °f  feeling  in  Santo  Domingo,  returned  to  his  followers, 
promising  to  submit  definite  terms  in  writing.  These 
were  sent  under  date  of  November  6,  1498,  with  a  de 
mand  for  an  answer  before  the  llth.  The  terms  were  inad 
missible.  To  disarm  charges  of  exaction,  Columbus  made  pub 
lic  proclamation  of  a  readiness  to  grant  pardon  to  all  who  should 
return  to  allegiance  within  thirty  days,  and  to  such  he  would 
give  free  transportation  to  Spain.  Carvajal  carried  this  paper 
to  Roldan,  and  was  accompanied  by  Columbus's  major-domo, 
Diego  de  Salamanca,  in  the  hopes  that  the  two  might  yet  ar 
range  some  terms,  mutually  acceptable. 

The  messenger  found  Roldan  advanced  from  Bonao,  and  be 
sieging  Ballester  in  Conception.  The  revolt  had  gone  too  far, 
apparently,  to  be  stayed,  but  the  persuasion  of  the  mediators 
at  last  prevailed,  and  terms  were  arranged.  These  provided 
full  pardon  and  certificates  of  good  conduct ;  free  passage  from 
Xaragua,  to  which  point  two  caravels  should  be  sent ;  the  full 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE. 


369 


complement  of  slaves  which  other  returning  colonists  had ;  liberty 
for  such  as  had  them  to  take  their  native  wives,  and  restoration 


of   sequestered  propertv.      Roldan  and  his   compan- 

,      ,,  .  J  ^-r  ,     Columbus 

ions   signed   this   agreement   on   November    16,  and  agrees  to 
agreed   to  wait  eight  days  for  the  signature  of  the 
Admiral.     Columbus  signed  it  on  the  21st,  and  further  granted 


370  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

indulgences  of  one  kind  or  another  to  such  as  chose  to  remain 
in  Espanola. 

Under  the  agreement,  the  ships  were  to  be  ready  in  fifty  days, 
but  Columbus,  in  the  disorganized  state  of  the  colony,  found  it 
impossible  to  avoid  delays,  and  his  self -congratulations  that  he 
had  got  rid  of  the  turbulent  horde  were  far  from  warranted,, 
While  under  this  impression,  and  absent  with  the  Adelantado, 
inspecting  the  posts  throughout  the  island,  and  deciding  how 
best  he  could  restore  the  regularities  of  life  and  business,  the 
arrangements  which  he  had  made  for  carrying  out  the  agree 
ment  with  Roldan  had  sorely  miscarried.  Nearly  double  the 
Delays  in  time  assigned  to  the  preparation  of  the  caravels  had 
theragrfe-°ut  elapsed,  when  the  vessels  at  last  left  Santo  Domingo 
for  Xaragua.  A  storm  disabling  one  of  them,  there 
were  still  further  delays ;  and  when  all  were  ready,  the  procras 
tination  in  their  outfit  offered  new  grounds  for  dispute,  and  it 
was  found  necessary  to  revise  the  agreement.  Carvajal  was  still 
the  mediator.  Roldan  met  the  Admiral  on  a  caravel,  which  had 
sailed  toward  Xaragua.  The  terms  which  Roldan  now  proposed 
were  that  he  should  be  permitted  to  send  some  of  his  friends, 
fifteen  in  number,  if  he  desired  so  many,  to  Spain ;  that  those 
who  remained  should  have  grants  of  land  ;  that  proclamation 
New  agree-  should  be  made  of  the  baseless  character  of  the  charges 
against  him  and  his  accomplices  ;  and  that  he  him 
self  should  be  restored  to  his  office  of  Alcalde  Mayor.  Colum 
bus,  who  had  received  a  letter  from  Fonseca  in  the  mean  while, 
showing  that  there  was  little  chance  of  relief  from  Spain,  saw 
the  hopelessness  of  his  situation,  and  sufficiently  humbled  him 
self  to  accept  the  terms.  When  they  were  submitted  to  the 
body  of  the  mutineers,  this  assembly  added  another  clause  giving 
them  the  right  to  enforce  the  agreement  by  compulsion  in  case 
the  Admiral  failed  to  carry  it  out.  This,  also,  was  agreed  to  in 
despair ;  while  the  Admiral  endeavored  to  relieve  the  mortifica 
tion  of  the  act  by  inserting  a  clause  enforcing  obedience  to  the 
signed  Sep-  commands  of  the  sovereigns,  of  himself,  and  of  his 

tember28,  .      ,  ,      .         .  mi  . 

1499.  regularly  appointed   justices.      1ms   agreement   was 

ratified  at  Santo  Domingo,  September  28,  1499. 
Roidan  re-          ^  was  not  a  pleasant  task  for  Columbus  to  brook  the 
instated.        presence  of  Roldan  and  his  victorious  faction  in  Santo 
Domingo.   The  reinstated  alcalde  had  no  occasion  to  be  very  com- 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  371 

plaisant  after  he  had  seen  the  Admiral  cringe  before  him.  Co 
lumbus  endeavored,  in  making'  the  grants  of  lands,  to  separate  the 
restored  rebels  as  much  as  he  could,  in  order  to  avoid  the  risks 
of  other  mutinous  combinations.  He  agreed  with  the  caciques 
that  they  should  be  relieved  from  the  ordinary  tribute  of  treas 
ure  if  they  would  furnish  these  new  grantees  with  laborers  for 
their  farms.  Thus  at  the  hands  of  Columbus  arose  the  begin 
ning  of  that  system  of  repartimientos,  with  all  its  Repartimi- 
miseries  for  the  poor  natives,  which  ended  in  their  ex-  entos' 
termination.  The  apologists  of  Columbus  consider  that  the 
exigencies  of  his  situation  forced  him  into  these  fiend-  Coiumbus 
ish  enactments,  and  that  he  is  not  to  be  held  responsible  and  slavery- 
for  them  as  of  his  free  will.  They  forget  the  expressions  of  his 
first  letter  to  Santangel,  which  prefigured  all  the  misery  which 
fell  upon  myriads  of  these  poor  creatures.  The  record,  unfor 
tunately,  shows  that  it  was  Columbus  who  invariably  led  opin 
ion  in  all  these  oppressions,  and  not  he  who  followed  it.  His 
artfulness  never  sprang  to  a  new  device  so  exultingly  as  when 
it  was  a  method  of  increasing  the  revenue  at  the  cost  of  the 
natives.  When  we  read,  in  the  letter  written  to  his  sovereigns 
during  this  absence,  of  his  always  impressing  on  the  natives,  in 
his  intercourse  with  them,  "  the  courtesy  and  nobleness  of  all 
Christians,"  we  shudder  at  the  hollowness  of  the  profession. 

The  personal  demands  of  Roldan  under  the  capitulation  were 
also  to  be  met.  They  included  restoration  of  lands  Roman's 
which  he  called  his  own,  new  lands  to  be  granted,  the  demands- 
stocking  of  them  from  the  public  herds  ;  and  Columbus  met 
them,  at  least,  until  the  grants  should  be  confirmed  at  Court. 
This  was  not  all.  Roldan  visited  Bonao,  and  made  one  of  his 
late  lieutenants  an  assistant  alcalde,  —  an  assumption  of  the 
power  of  appointment  at  which  Columbus  was  offended,  as 
some  tell  us;  but  if  the  Historie  is  to  be  depended  on,  the 
appointment  invited  no  unfavorable  comment  from  Columbus. 
When  it  was  found  that  this  new  officer  was  building  a  struc 
ture  ostensibly  for  farm  purposes,  but  of  a  character  more  like 
a  fortress,  suitable  for  some  new  mutiny  to  rally  in,  Columbus 
at  last  rose  on  his  dignity  and  forbade  it. 

In  October,  1499,  the  Admiral  dispatched  two  car-  1499    Oc_ 
avels  to  Spain.     It  did  not  seem  safe  for  him  to  em- 
bark  in  them,  though  he  felt  his  presence  was  needed   Spain' 


372  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

at  Court  to  counteract  the  mischief  of  his  enemies  and  Roldan's 
friends.  Some  of  the  latter  went  in  the  ships.  The  most  he 
coiumbus  could  do  was  to  trust  his  cause  to  Miguel  Ballester 
Jester  tw1"  and  Garcia  de  Barrantes,  who  embarked  as  his  repre- 
caSse  inhis  sentatives.  They  bore  his  letters  to  the  monarchs.  In 
Spain.  these  he  enumerated  the  compulsions  under  which  he 
had  signed  the  capitulation  with  Roldan,  and  begged  their 
Majesties  to  treat  it  as  given  under  coercion,  and  to  bring  the 
rebels  to  trial.  He  then  mentioned  what  other  assistants  he 
needed  in  governing  the  colony,  such  as  a  learned  judge  and 
some  discreet  councilors.  He  ended  with  asking  that  his  son, 
Diego,  might  be  spared  from  Court  to  assist  him. 

While  Columbus  was  making  these  requests,  he  was  ignorant 
of  the  way  in  which  the  Spanish  Court  had  already 

Royal  in-  /  ,.  ,.  4  jf 

fringements  made  serious  trespasses  upon  ms  prerogatives  as  Ad- 
bus's  privi-  miral  of  the  Indies.  He  had  said  in  his  letter  to  the 
sovereigns,  "  Your  Majesties  will  determine  on  what  is 
to  be  done,"  in  consequence  of  these  new  discoveries  at  Paria. 
He  was  soon  to  become  painfully  conscious  of  what  was  done. 
1499.  oje-  The  real  hero  of  Columbus's  second  voyage,  Alonso  de 
da's  voyage.  Qje^a>  comes  again  on  the  scene.  He  was  in  Spain 
when  the  accounts  which  Columbus  had  transmitted  to  Court  of 
his  discoveries  about  the  Gulf  of  Paria  reached  Seville.  Such 
glowing  descriptions  fired  his  ambition,  and  learning  from  Co 
lumbus's  other  letters  and  from  the  reports  by  those  who  had 
returned  of  the  critical  condition  of  affairs  in  Espaiiola,  he  an 
ticipated  the  truth  when  he  supposed  that  the  Admiral  could 
not  so  smother  the  disquiet  of  his  colony  as  to  venture  to  leave 
it  for  further  explorations.  He  saw,  too,  the  maps  which  Co 
lumbus  had  sent  back  and  the  pearls  which  he  had  gathered. 
He  acknowledged  all  this  in  a  deposition  taken  at  Santo  Do 
mingo  in  1513.  So  he  proposed  to  Fonseca  that  he  might  be  al 
lowed  to  undertake  a  private  voyage,  and  profit,  for  himself  and 
for  the  Crown,  by  the  resources  of  the  country,  inasmuch  as  it 
must  be  a  long  time  before  Columbus  himself  could  do  so.  Fon 
seca  readily  commended  the  plan  and  gave  him  a  license,  stipu 
lating  that  he  should  avoid  any  Portuguese  possession  and  any 
lands  that  Columbus  had  discovered  before  1495.  It  was  the 
purpose,  by  giving  this  date,  to  throw  open  the  Paria  region. 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  373 

The  ships  were  fitted  out  at  Seville  in  the  early  part  of  1499, 
and  some  men,  famous  in  these  years,  made  part  of  the  com 
pany  which  sailed  on  them.     There  was  Americus  Ves-  Vespucius 
pucius,  who  was  seemingly  now  for  the  first  time  to  with  °ieda* 
embark  for  the  New  World,  since  it  is  likely  that  out  of  this  very 
expedition  the  alleged  voyage  of  his  in  1497  has  been  made  to 
appear  by  some  perversion  of  chronology.     There  was  Juan  de  la 
Juan  de  la  Cosa,  a  famous  hydrographer,  who  was  the  Cosa- 
companion  of  Columbus  in  his  second  Cuban  cruise.     Irving 
says  that  he  was  with  Columbus  in  his  first  voyage ;  but  it  is 
thought  that  it  was  another  of  the  same  name  who  appears  in 
the  registers  of  that  expedition.     Several  of  those  who  had  re 
turned  from  Espaiiola  after  the  Paria  cruise  of  Columbus  were 
also  enlisted,  and  among;  them  Bartholomew  Roldan, 

.  1499.    May 

the  pilot  of  that  earlier  fleet.    The  expedition  of  Ojeda  20.   ojeda 
sailed  May  20,  1499.     They  made  land  200  leagues  * 
east  of  the  Orinoco,  and  then,  guided  by  Columbus's  charts,  the 
ships  followed  his  track  through  the  Serpent's  and  the  Dragon's 
Mouths.     Thence  passing  Margarita,  they  sailed  on  towards  the 
mountains  which  Columbus  had  seen,  and  finally  entered  a  gulf, 
where  they  saw  some  pile  dwellings  of  the  natives.     They  ac 
cordingly  named  the  basin  Venezuela,  in  reference  to  At  Ven- 
the  great  sea-built  city  of  the  Adriatic.     It  is  note-  ezuela> 
worthy  that  Ojeda,  in  reporting  to  their  Majesties  an  account  of 
this  voyage,  says  that  he  met  in  this  neighborhood  some  Eng 
lish  vessels,  an  expedition  which  may  have  been  instigated  by 
Cabot's  success.     It  is  to  be  observed,  at  the  same  time,  that 
this  is  the  only  authority  which  we  have  for  such  an  early  visit 
of  the  English  to  this  vicinity,  and  the  statement  is  not  cred 
ited  by  Biddle,  Helps,  and  other  recent  writers.     Ojeda  turned 
eastward  not  long  after,  having  run  short  of  provisions.     He 
then  approached  the  prohibited  Espanola,  and  hoped  to  elude 
notice  while  foraging  at  its  western  end. 

It  was  while  here  that  Ojeda's  caravels  were  seen  and  tidings 
of  their  presence  were  transmitted  to  Santo  Domingo.  Igno 
rance  of  what  he  had  to  deal  with  in  these  intruders 

1499.     Sep- 

was  one  of  the  reasons  which  made  it  out  of  the  ques-  Jj.™*jr  5- 
tion  for  Columbus  to  return   to  Spain  in   the    ships 
which  he  had  dispatched  in  October.     Ojeda  had  ap 
peared  on  the  coast  on  September  5,  1499,  and  as  succeeding 


374  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

reports  came  to  Columbus,  it  was  divulged  that  Ojeda  was  in 
command,  and  that  he  was  cutting  dye  woods  thereabouts. 

Now  was  the  time  to  heal  the  dissensions  of  Roldan,  and  to 
coiumbus  g*ve  h*m  a  cwance  to  recover  his  reputation.  So  the 
Admiral  selected  his  late  bitter  enemy  to  manage  the 
expedition  which  he  thought  it  necessary  to  dispatch  to 
the  spot.  Roldan  sailed  in  command  of  two  caravels  on  Sep 
tember  29,  and,  approaching  unobserved  the  place  where  Ojeda's 
ships  were  at  anchor,  he  landed  with  twenty-five  men,  and  sent 
out  scouts.  They  soon  reported  that  Ojeda  was  some  distance 
away  from  his  ships  at  an  Indian  village,  making  cassava  bread. 
Ojeda  heard  of  the  approach,  but  not  in  time  to  prevent  Roldan 
getting  between  him  and  his  ships.  The  intruder  met  him 
boldly,  said  he  was  on  an  exploring  expedition,  and  had  put  in 
for  supplies,  and  that  if  Roldan  would  come  on  board  his  ships, 
he  would  show  his  license  signed  by  Fonseca.  When  Roldan 
went  on  board,  he  saw  the  document.  He  also  learned  from 
those  he  talked  with  in  the  ships  —  and  there  were  among  them 
some  whom  he  knew,  and  some  who  had  been  in  Espanola — 
that  the  Admiral's  name  was  in  disgrace  at  Court,  and  there 
was  imminent  danger  of  his  being  deprived  of  his  command 
at  Espanola.  Moreover,  the  Queen,  who  had  befriended  him 
against  all  others,  was  ill  beyond  recovery.  Ojeda  promising 
to  sail  round  to  Santo  Domingo  and  explain  his  conduct  to  the 
Admiral,  Roldan  left  him,  and  carried  back  the  intelligence  to 
Columbus. 

The  Viceroy  waited  patiently  for  Ojeda's  vessels  to  appear, 
and  to  hear  the  explanation  of  what  he  deemed  a  flagrant  vio 
lation  of  his  rights.  Ojeda,  having  got  rid  of  Roldan,  had 
accomplished  all  that  he  intended  by  the  promise.  When  he  set 
sail,  it  was  to  pass  round  the  coast  easterly  to  the  shore  of 
Xaragua,  where  he  anchored,  and  opened  communication  with 
the  Spanish  settlers,  remnants  of  Roldan's  party,  who  had  not 
been  quite  satisfied  to  find  their  reinstated  leader  acting  as 
an  emissary  of  Columbus.  Ojeda,  with  impetuous  sympathy, 
listened  to  their  complaints,  and  had  agreed  to  be  their  leader 
in  marching  to  Santo  Domingo  to  demand  some  redresses,  when 
Roldan,  sent  by  Columbus  to  watch  him,  once  more  appeared. 
Ojeda  declined  a  conference,  and  kept  on  his  ship.  Roldan  had 
harbored  a  deserter  from  one  of  Ojeda's  fleet,  and  as  he  re- 


THE    THIRD    VOYAGE.  375 

fused  to  give  him  up,  Ojeda  watched  his  opportunity  and  seized 
two  of  Roldan's  men  to  hold  as  hostages.  So  the  two  wary  ad 
venturers  watched  each  other  for  an  advantage.  After  a  while, 
Ojeda,  in  his  ships,  stood  down  the  coast.  Roldan  followed 
along  the  shore.  Coining  up  to  where  the  ships  were  anchored, 
Roldan  induced  Ojeda  to  send  a  boat  ashore,  when,  by  an  arti 
fice,  he  captured  the  boat  and  its  crew.  This  game  of  strata 
gems  ended  with  an  agreement  on  Ojeda's  part  to  leave  the  isl 
and,  while  Roldan  restored  the  captive  boat.  The  prisoners  were 
exchanged.  Ojeda  bore  off  shore,  and  though  Roldan  heard 
of  his  landing  again  at  a  distant  point,  he  was  gone  when  the 
pursuers  reached  the  spot.  Las  Casas  says  that  Ojeda  made 
for  some  islands,  where  he  completed  his  lading  of  1500  June 
slaves,  and  set  sail  for  Spain,  arriving  at  Cadiz  in  JJJacJua 
June,  1500.  Cadiz- 

While  Columbus  was  congratulating  himself  on  being  well 
rid  of  this  dangerous  visitor,  he  was  not  at  all  aware  of  the 
uncontrollable  eagerness  which  the  joyous  reports  of  pearls  had 
engendered  in  the  adventurous  spirits  of  the  Spanish  seaports. 
Among  such  impatient  sailors  was  the  pilot,  Pedro 
Alonso  Nino,  who  had  accompanied  Columbus  on  his  age  toMT 
first  voyage,  and  had  also  but  recently  returned  from 
the  Paria  coast,  having  been  likewise  with  the  Admiral  on  his 
third  voyage.  He  found  Fonseca  as  willing,  if  only  the  Crown 
could  have  its  share,  as  Ojeda  had  found  him,  and  just  as  for 
getful  of  the  vested  rights  of  Columbus.  So  the  license  was 
granted  only  a  few  days  after  that  given  to  Ojeda,  and  of  sim 
ilar  import.  Nino,  being  a  poor  man,  sought  the  aid  Guerra  Ma 
of  Luis  Guerra  in  fitting  out  a  small  caravel  of  only  him- 
fifty  tons  ;  and  in  consideration  of  this  assistance,  Guerra's 
brother,  Cristoval,  was  placed  in  command,  with  a  crew,  all  told, 
of  thirty-three  souls.  They  sailed  from  Palos  early  in  June, 
1499,  and  were  only  fifteen  days  behind  Ojeda  on  the  coast. 
They  had  some  encounters  and  some  festivities  with  the  natives ; 
but  they  studiously  attended  to  their  main  object  of  bartering 
for  pearls,  and  when  they  reached  Spain  on  their  return  in 
April,  1500,  and  laid  out  the  shares  for  the  Crown,  for  Guerra, 
and  for  the  crew,  of  the  rich  stores  of  pearls  which  they  had 
gathered,  men  said,  "  Here  at  last  is  one  voyage  to  the  new 


376  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

islands  from  which  some  adequate  return  is  got."  And  so  the 
first  commensurate  product  of  the  Indies,  instead  of  saving  the 
credit  of  Columbus,  filled  the  pockets  of  an  interloping  adven 
turer. 


But  a  more  considerable  undertaking  of  the  same  illegitimate 
v  Y  Pm      character  was  that  of  Vicente  Yaiiez  Pinzon,  the  com- 

zou'svoy- 


panion  of  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage.  Leaguing 
with  him  a  number  of  the  seamen  of  the  Admiral, 
including  some  of  his  pilots  on  his  last  voyage,  Pinzon  fitted  out 
at  Palos  four  caravels,  which  sailed  near  the  beginning  of  De- 

1499.  De-     cember,  1499,  not  far  from  the  time  when  Columbus 

was  thinking,  because  of  the  flight  of  Ojeda,  that  an 
end  was  at  last  coming  to  these  intrusions  within  his  prescribed 
seas.  Pinzon  was  not  so  much  influenced  by  greed  as  by  some 
thing  of  that  spirit  which  had  led  him  to  embark  with  Colum 
bus  in  1492,  the  genuine  eagerness  of  the  explorer.  He  was 
destined  to  do  what  Columbus  had  been  prevented  from  doing 
by  the  intense  heat  and  by  the  demoralized  condition  of  his 
crew,  —  strike  the  New  World  in  the  equatorial  latitudes.  So 

he  stood  boldly  southwest,  and  crossed  the  equator, 
crosses  the  the  first  to  do  it  west  of  the  line  of  demarcation. 

Here  were  new  constellations  as  well  as  a  new  conti 
nent  for  the  transatlantic  discoverer.  The  north  star  had  sunk 
out  of  sight.  Thus  it  was  that  the  southern  heavens  brought 
The  south-  a  new  difficulty  to  navigation,  as  well  as  unwonted 
em  sky.  stellar  groups  to  the  curious  observer.  The  sailor  of 
the  northern  seas  had  long  been  accustomed  to  the  fixity  of  the 
polar  star  in  making  his  observations  for  latitude.  The  south 
ern  heavens  were  without  any  conspicuous  star  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  pole  :  and  in  order  to  determine  such  questions,  the 
star  at  the  foot  of  the  Southern  Cross  was  soon  selected,  but  it 
necessitated  an  allowance  of  30°  in  all  observations. 

It  was  on  January  20,  1500,  or  thereabouts,  that  Pinzon  saw  a 

1500.  Janu-  cap6  which  he  called  Consolation,  and  which  very  likely 
capfccSso!  was  tne  modern  Cape  St.  Augustine,  —  though  the  iden- 
lation.          tification  is  not  established  to  the  satisfaction  of  all,  — 
which  would  make  Pinzon  the  first  European  to  see  the  most 
easterly  limit  of  the  great  southern  continent.     A  belief  like 
this  requires  us,  necessarily,  to  reject  Varnhagen's  view  that  as 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  377 

early  as  the  previous  June  (1499)  Ojeda  had  made  his  land 
fall  just  as  far  to  the  east.     Pinzon  took  possession  of  Coast8 
the  country,  and  then,  sailing  north,  passed  the  mouth  nortb' 
of  the  Amazon,  and  found  that  even  out  of  sight  of  land  he  could 
replenish  his  water-casks  from  the  flow  of  fresh  waters,  which 
the  great  river  poured  into  the  ocean.     It  did  not  occur  to  his 
practical  mind,  as  it  had  under  similar  circumstances  to  Colum 
bus,  that  he  was  drinking  the  waters  of  Paradise  ! 

Reaching  the  Gulf  of  Paria,  Pinzon  passed  out  into  the  Carib 
bean  Sea,  and  touched  at  Espaiiola  in  the  latter  part 
of  June,  1500.     Proceeding  thence   to  the   Lucayan  Pinz'on  atne" 
Islands,  two  of  his  caravels  were  swallowed  up  in  a 
gale,  and  the  other  two  disabled.     The  remaining  ships  crossed 
to  Espanola  to  refit,  whence  sailing  once  more,  they 
reached  Palos  in  September,  1500. 

1500. 

Meanwhile,  following  Pinzon,  Diego  de  Lepe,  sailing  also 
from  Palos  with  two  caravels  in  January,  1500,  tracked  1500  Jan. 
the  coast  from  below  Cape  St.  Augustine  northward. 
He  was  the  first  to  double  this  cape,  as  he  showed  in 
the  map  which  he  made  for  Fonseca,  and  doing  so  he  saw  the 
coast  stretching  ahead  to  the  southwest.  From  this  time  South 
America  presents  on  the  charts  this  established  trend  of  the 
coast.  Humboldt  thinks  that  Diego  touched  at  Espanola  before 
returning  to  Spain  in  June,  1500. 

We  must  now  return  to  the  further  exploration  of  the  Por 
tuguese  by  the  African  route,  for  we  have  reached  a 
period  when,  by  accident  and  because  of  the  revised 
line  of  demarcation,  the  Portuguese  pursuing  that 
route  acquired  at  the  same  time  a  right  on  the  American  coast 
which  they  have  since  maintained  in  Brazil,  as  against  what 
seems  to  have  been  a  little  earlier  discovery  of  that  coast  by 
Pinzon,  in  the  voyage  already  mentioned. 

In  the  year  following  the  return  to  Lisbon  of  Da  Gama  with 
the  marvelous  story  of  the  African  route  to  India,  the  Portu 
guese  government  were  prompted  naturally  enough  to  establish 
more  firmly  their  commercial  relations  with  Calicut.  They  ac 
cordingly  fitted  out  three  ships  to  make  trial  once  more  of  the 
voyage.  The  command  was  given  to  Pedro  Alvarez  Cabral,  and 


378  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

there  were  placed  under  him  Diaz,  who  had  first  rounded  the 
stormy  cape,  and  Coelho,  who  had  accompanied  Da  Gama»  The 
1500.  March  expedition  sailed  on  March  9,  1500.  Leaving  the 

Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  Cabral  shaped  his  course  more 
westerly  than  Da  Gama  had  done,  because  of  instructions  which 
had  been  drawn  up  for  him.  Perhaps  it  was  to  avoid  the  calms 
off  the  coast  of  Guinea ;  perhaps  to  avoid  breasting  a  storm ;  and 
indeed  it  may  have  been  only  to  see  if  any  land  lay  thitherward 
easterly  of  the  great  line  of  demarcation.  Whatever  the  motive, 

the  fleet  was  brought  on  April  22  opposite  an  elm- 
covers  the  nence,  which  received  then  the  name  of  Monte  Pascoal, 

and  is  to-day,  as  then  it  became  by  right  of  discovery, 
within  the  Portuguese  limits  of  South  America,  the  Land  of 
the  True  Cross,  as  he  named  it,  Vera  Cruz ;  later,  however,  to 
1500.  May  be  changed  to  Santa  Cruz.  The  coast  was  examined, 

and  in  the  bay  of  Porto  Seguro,  on  May  1,  formal 
possession  of  the  country  was  taken  for  the  crown  of  Portugal. 
Cabral  sent  a  caravel  back  with  the  news,  expressed  in  a  letter 
drawn  up  by  Pedro  Vaz  de  Caminha.  This  letter,  which  is 
dated  on  the  day  possession  was  taken,  was  first  made  known  by 
Munoz,  who  discovered  it  in  the  archives  at  Lisbon.  It  was  not 
till  July  29  that  the  Portuguese  king,  in  a  letter  which  is  printed 
by  Navarrete,  notified  the  Spanish  monarchs  of  Cabral's  discov 
ery,  and  this  letter  was  printed  in  Rome,  October  23,  1500. 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  apprehension  of  the  Portuguese,  if 
we  may  trust  this  letter,  that  the  new  coast  lay  directly  in  the 
route  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  though  on  the  right  hand. 

Leaving  two  banished  criminals  to  seek  their  chances  of  life  in 
the  country,  and  to  ascertain  its  products,  Cabral  set  sail  on 
May  22,  and  proceeded  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Fearful 
gales  were  encountered  and  four  vessels  were  lost,  and  his  sub- 
cabraiat  ordinate,  Diaz,  found  an  ocean  grave  off  the  stormy 
teSer'ilt1*"  cape  of  his  own  finding.  But  Calicut  was  at  last 

reached,  September  13. 

There  is  a  day  or  two  difference  in  the  dates  assigned  by  dif 
ferent  authorities  for  this  discovery  of  Cabral.  Ra- 

Cabrai'sdis-  musio,  quoting  a  pilot  of  the  fleet  fourteen  months 
after  the  event,  says  April  24,  and  leading  Portuguese 

historians  have  followed  him  :  but  the  letter  which  Cabral  sent 


THE   THIRD    VOYAGE.  379 

back  to  Portugal,  as  already  related,  says  April  22.     The  ques 
tion  would  be  a  trifling  one,  as  Humboldt  suggests, 

His  landfall. 

except  that  it  bears  upon  the  question  or  just  where 
this  fortuitous  landfall  was  made,  involving  estimates  of  dis 
tance  sailed  before  Cabral  entered  the  harbor  of  Porto  Seguro. 
It  is  probable  that  this  was  at  a  point  a  hundred  and  seventy 
leagues  south  of  the  spot  reached  earlier  (January,  1500)  by 
Pinzon  and  De  Lepe.  Yet  on  this  point  there  are  some  differ 
ences  of  opinion,  which  are  recapitulated  by  Humboldt. 

The  most  impartial  critics,  however,  agree  with  Humboldt 
in  giving  Pinzon  the  lead,  if  not  to  the  extent  of  the   Cabral  and 
forty-eight  days  before  Cabral  left   Lisbon,  as  Hum-  Pinzon- 
boldt  contends. 

If  Barros  is  correct  in  his  deductions,  it  was  not  known  on 
board  of  Cabral's  fleet  that  Columbus  had  already  discovered  in 
the  Paria  region  what  he  supposed  an  extension  of  the  Asiatic 
main.  The  first  conclusion  of  the  Portuguese  naturally  was 
that  they  had  stumbled  either  on  a  new  group  of  islands,  or 
perhaps  on  some  outlying  members  of  the  group  of  the  Antilles. 
Of  course  nothing  was  known  at  the  time  of  the  discoveries  of 
Pinzon  and  Lepe. 

It  has  often  been  remarked  that  if  Columbus  had  not  sailed 
in  1492,  Cabral  would  have  revealed  America  in  1500.  It  is  a 
striking  fact  that  the  Portuguese  had  pursued  their  quest  for 
India  with  an  intelligence  and  prescience  which  geographical 
truth  confirmed.  The  Spaniards  went  their  way  in 
error,  and  it  took  them  nearly  thirty  years  to  find  a  of  the  Af- 

^  rican  route. 

route  that  could  bring  them  where  they  could  defend 
at  the  antipodes  their  rights  under  the  Bull  of  Demarcation. 
Columbus  sought  India  and  found  America  without  knowing  it. 
Cabral,  bound  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  stumbled  upon 
Brazil,  and  preempted  the  share  of  Portugal  in. the  New  World 
as  Da  Gama  has  already  secured  it  in  Asia.  Thus  the  African 
route  revealed  both  Cathay  and  America. 

For  these  voyages  commingling  with  those  of  Columbus  along 
the  spaces  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  we  get  the  best  in- 
formation,  all  things  considered,  from  the  testimonies 
of  the  participants  in  them,  which  were  rendered  in 
the  famous  lawsuit  which  the  Crown  waged  against  the  heirs  of 


382  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Columbus.     The  well-known  map  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa  posts  us 
LaCosa's      best  on  the  cartographical  results  of  these  same  voy- 

map,  1500.        ageg  up  to  ^  summer  Qf   ^QQ^ 

La  Cosa  was,  as  Las  Casas  called  him,  the  best  of  the  pilots 
then  living,  and  there  is  a  story  of  his  arrogating  to  himself  a 
superiority  to  Columbus,  even. 

As  La  Cosa  returned  to  Spain  with  Ojeda  in  June,  1500, 
and  sailed  again  in  October  with  Bastidas,  this  famous  map 
was  apparently  made  in  that  interval,  since  it  purports  in  an 
inscription  to  have  been  drafted  in  1500.  In  posting  the  geo 
graphical  knowledge  which  he  had  acquired  up  to  that  date,  La 
Cosa  drew  upon  his  own  experiences  in  the  voyages  which  he 
had  already  made  with  Columbus  (1493-96),  and  with  Ojeda 
(1499-1500).  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  from  his 
pencil  no  later  draft,  for  his  experience  in  these  seas  was  long 
and  intimate,  since  he  accompanied  Bastidas  in  1500-2,  led  ex 
peditions  of  his  own  in  1504—6  and  1507—8,  and  went  again 
with  Ojeda  in  1509. 

La  Cosa,  indeed,  does  not  seem  to  have  improved  his  map  on 
any  subsequent  date,  and  that  he  puts  down  Cape  St.  Augus 
tine  so  accurately  is  another  proof  of  that  headland  being  seen 
by  Pinzon  or  Lepe  in  1500,  and  that  news  of  its  discovery  had 
reached  the  map-makers. 

The  objections  to  La  Cosa's  map  as  a  source  of  historical  in 
formation  have  been  that  (1)  he  gives  an  incorrect 

Objections          .  ~  ,          .,  •  t       j      •    i  ^ 

to  La  Cosa's  shape  to  Cuba,  and  makes  it  an  island  eight  years  be 
fore  Ocampo  sailed  around  it ;  and  that  (2)  he  gives 
an  unrecognizable  coast  northward  from  where  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  should  be.  Henry  Stevens,  in  his  Historical  and  Geo 
graphical  Notes,  undertakes  to  answer  these  objections. 

First,  Stevens  reverts  to  the  belief  of  La  Cosa  that  he  did 
insularity  of  not  imagine  Cuba  to  be  an  island,  because  no  one  ever 
knew  of  an  island  335  leagues  long,  as  Columbus  and 
he,  sailing  along  its  southern  side,  had  found  it  to  be,  taking  the 
distance  they  had  gone  rather  than  the  true  limits.  Stevens 
depends  much  on  the  belief  of  Columbus  that  the  bay  of  islands 
which  he  fancied  himself  within,  when  he  turned  back,  was  the 
Gulf  of  Ganges,  —  supposing  that  Peter  Martyr  quoted  Colum 
bus,  when  he  wrote  to  that  effect  in  August,  1495.  If  Yarnha- 
gen  is  correct  in  his  routes  of  Vespucius,  that  navigator,  in 


THE   THIRD  VOYAGE. 


383 


1497,  making  the  circuit  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  had  established 
the  insularity  of  Cuba.  Few  modern  scholars,  it  is  fair  to  say, 
accept  Varnhagen's  theories.  It  became  a  question,  after  Hum- 
boldt  had  made  the  La  Cosa  chart  public  in  1833,  how  its  maker 
had  got  the  information  of  the  insularity  of  Cuba.  Humboldt 


was  convinced  that  though  a  "  complacent  witness  "  to  Coluin- 
bus's  ridiculous  notarial  transaction  during  his  second  voyage, 
La  Cosa  had  dared  to  tell  the  truth,  even  at  the  small  risk  of 
having  his  tongue  pulled  out. 

The*  Admiral's  belief,  bolstered  after  his  own  fashion  by  sub 
orning  his  crew,  was  far  from  being  accepted  by  all. 


384 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Peter  Martyr  not  long  afterward  showed  the  hesitancy  which 
was  growing.  It  was  beginning  to  be  believed  that  the  earth 
was  larger  than  Columbus  thought,  and  that  his  discoveries  had 
not  taken  him  as  far  as  Cathay.  Every  new  report  veered  the 
vane  on  this  old  gossiper's  steeple,  and  he  went  on  believing 
one  day  and  disbelieving  the  next. 

We  may  perhaps  question  now  if  the  official  promulgation  of 
the  Cuban  circumnavigation  by  Sebastian  Ocampo  in  1508  was 


235 


.300\ 


WTTFIIET'S 

much  more  than  the  Spanish  acknowledgment  of  its  insularity, 
when  they  could  no  longer  deny  it.  Henry  Stevens  has  claimed 
to  put  La  Cosa's  island  of  Cuba  in  accord  with  Columbus,  or  at 
least  partly  so.  He  finds  this  western  limit  of  Cuba  on  the 
La  Cosa  map  drawn  with  "  a  dash  of  green  paint,"  which  he 
holds  to  be  a  color  used  to  define  unknown  coasts.  He  studied 
the  map  in  Jomard's  colored  facsimile,  and  trusted  it,  not  hav 
ing  examined  the  original  to  this  end,  —  though  he  had  appar 
ently  seen  it  in  the  Paris  auction-room  in  1853,  when,  as  a  com- 


THE   THIRD  VOYAGE. 


385 


petitor,  he  had  run  up  the  price  which  the  Spanish  government 
paid  for  it.  He  says  that  the  same  green  emblem  of  unknown 
lands  is  also  placed  upon  the  coast  of  Asia,  where  a  peninsular 
Cuba  would  have  joined  it.  He  seems  to  forget  that  he  should 
have  found,  to  support  his  theory,  a  gap  rather  than  a  suppos- 
able  coast,  and  should  rather  have  pointed  to  the  vignette  of 
St.  Christopher  as  affording  that  gap. 

Ruysch  in  1507  marked  in   his  map   this  unknown  western 


CUBA. 

limit  with  a  conventional  scroll,  while  he  made  his  north  coast 
not  unlike  the  Asiatic  coast  of  Mauro  (1457)  and  Behaim 
(1492),  and  with  no  gap.  Stevens  also  interprets  the  St.  Die 
map  of  1508-13  as  showing  this  peninsular  Cuba  in  what  is 
there  placed  as  the  main,  with  a  duplicated  insular  Cuba  in 
what  is  called  Isabella.  The  warrant  for  this  supposition  is 
the  transfer  under  disguises  of  the  La  Cosa  and  Ruysch  names 
of  their  Cuba  to  the  continental  coast  of  the  St.  Die  map, 
leaving  the  "  Isabella  "  entirely  devoid  of  names. 


386  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Stevens  ventures  the  opinion  that  La  Cosa  may  have  been  on 
the  first  voyage  of  Columbus  as  well  as  on  the  second,  and  his 
reason  for  this  is  that  the  north  coast  of  Cuba,  which  Columbus 
then  coasted,  is  so  correctly  drawn  ;  but  this  opinion  ignores  the 
probability,  indeed  the  certainty,  that  this  approximate  accu 
racy  could  just  as  well  be  reached  by  copying  from  Columbus's 
map  of  that  first  voyage. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  Varnhagen,  who 
had  faith  in  the  1497  voyage  of  Vespucius  as  having  settled 
the  insular  character  of  Cuba,  interprets  this  St.  Die  map  quite 
differently,  as  showing  a  rudimentary  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the 
Mississippi  mouth  instead  of  the  Gulf  of  Ganges. 

Second,  Stevens  grasps  the  obvious  interpretation  that  La 
^osa  simply  drew  in  for  this  northern  coast  that  of 
^"S*a  as  ^e  conce^ve^  ft-  This  hardly  needs  elucida 
tion.  But  his  opinion  is  not  so  well  grounded  that  the 
northern  part  of  this  Asiatic  coast,  where  La  Cosa  intended  to 
improve  on  the  notions  which  had  come  from  Marco  Polo  and 
the  rest,  is  simply  the  northern  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law 
rence  as  laid  down  by  the  explorations  of  Cabot.  If  it  be  taken 
as  giving  from  Cabot's  recitals  the  trend  of  the  coasts  found 
by  him,  it  seems  to  show  that  that  navigator  knew  nothing  of 
the  southern  entrance  of  that  gulf.  This  adds  further  to  the 
uncertainty  of  what  is  called  the  Cabot  mappemonde  of  1544. 
That  La  Cosa  intended  the  coasts  of  the  Cabots'  discoveries  to 
belong  to  inland  waters  Stevens  thinks  is  implied  by  the  sea 
thereabouts  being  called  Mar  instead  of  Mar  oceanus.  It  is 
difficult  to  see  the  force  of  these  supplemental  views  of  Stevens, 
and  to  look  upon  the  drawing  of  La  Cosa  in  this  northern  re 
gion  as  other  than  Asia  modified  vaguely  by  the  salient  points 
of  the  outer  coast  lines  as  glimpsed  by  Cabot. 

If  the  Spanish  envoy  in  England  carried  out  his  intention  of 
sending  a  copy  of  Cabot's  chart  to  Spain,  it  could  hardly  have 
escaped  falling  into  the  hands  of  La  Cosa.  We  have  already 
mentioned  the  chance  of  John  Cabot  having  visited  the  penin 
sula  in  the  interval  between  his  two  voyages. 
Columbus  The  chief  ground  for  believing  that  Columbus  ever 
Cabot16  heard  of  the  voyages  of  the  Cabots  —  for  there  is 
voyages.  no  piajn  statement  that  he  did  —  is  that  we  know 
how  La  Cosa  had  knowledge  of  them  ;  and  that  upon  his  map 


THE   THIRD  VOYAGE.  387 

the  vignette  of  St.  Christopher  bearing  the  infant  Christ  may 
possibly  have  been,  as  it  has  sometimes  been  held  to  be,  a  di 
rect  reference  to  La  Cosa's  commander,  who  may  be  supposed 
in  that  case  to  have  been  acquainted  with  the  compliment  paid 
him,  and  consequently  with  the  map's  record  of  the  Cabots. 

Whether  La  Cosa  understood  the  natives  better  than  Co 
lumbus,  or  whether  he  had  information  of  which  we  have  no 
record,  it  is  certain  that  within  two  years  rumor  or  fact  brought 
it  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Portuguese  that  the  westerly  end  of 
Cuba  lay  contiguous  to  a  continental  shore,  stretching  to  the 
north,  in  much  the  position  of  the  eastern  seaboard  of  the 
United  States.  This  is  manifest  from  the  Cantino  The  Cantino 
map,  which  was  sent  from  Lisbon  to  Italy  before  map* 
November,  1502,  and  which  prefigured  the  so-called  Admiral's 
map  of  the  Ptolemy  of  1513.  There  will  be  occasion  to  dis 
cuss  later  the  over-confident  dictum  of  Stevens  that  this  sup 
posed  North  American  coast  was  simply  a  duplicated  Cuba, 
turned  north  and  south,  and  stretching  from  a  warm  region,  as 
the  Spaniards  knew  it,  well  up  into  the  frozen  north.  Cosa's 
map  seems  to  have  exerted  little  or  no  influence  on  the  earliest 
printed  maps  of  the  New  World,  and  in  this  it  differs  from  the 
Cantino  map. 

We  know  not  what  unexpected  developments  may  further 
have  sprung  from  obscure  and  furtive  explorations,  which  were 
now  beginning  to  be  common,  and  of  which  the  record  Minor  ex- 
is  often  nothing  more  than  an  inference.     Stories  of  Peditions- 
gold  and  pearls  were  great  incentives.     The  age  was  full  of  a 
spirit  of  private  adventure.     The  voyages  of  Ojeda,  Nino,  and 
Pinzon  were  but  the  more  conspicuous. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  DEGRADATION   AND  DISHEARTENMENT  OF  COLUMBUS. 

1500. 

COLUMBUS,  writing  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns  from  Espanola, 
said,  in  reference  to  the  lifelong  opposition  which  he  had  en 
countered  :  — 

"  May  it  please  the  Lord  to  forgive  those  who  have  calumni 
ated  and  still  calumniate  this  excellent  enterprise  of 
of  coium-8  mine,  and  oppose  and  have  opposed  its  advancement, 
without  considering  how  much  glory  and  greatness 
will  accrue  from  it  to  your  Highnesses  throughout  all  the  world. 
They  cannot  state  anything  in  disparagement  of  it  except  its 
expense,  and  that  I  have  not  immediately  sent  back  the  ships 
loaded  with  gold." 

Was  this  an  honest  statement  ?  Columbus  knew  perfectly 
well  that  there  had  been  much  else  than  disappointment  at  the 
scant  pecuniary  returns.  He  knew  that  there  was  a  widespread 
dissatisfaction  at  his  personal  mismanagement  of  the  colony; 
at  his  alleged  arrogance  and  cupidity  as  a  foreigner ;  at  his 
nepotism ;  at  his  inordinate  exaltation  of  promise, 
against  and  at  his  errant  faith  that  brooked  no  dispute.  He 
knew  also  that  his  enthusiasm  had  captivated  the 
Queen,  and  that  as  long  as  she  could  be  held  captive  he  could 
appeal  to  her  not  in  vain.  If  there  had  been  any  honesty  in 
the  Queen's  professions  in  respect  to  the  selling  of  slaves,  he 
knew  that  he  had  outraged  them.  Even  when  he  was  writing 
this  letter,  it  came  over  him  that  there  was  a  fearful  hazard 
for  him  both  in  the  persistency  of  this  denunciation  of  others 
against  him  and  in  the  heedless  arrogance  of  such  perverseness 
on  his  own  part. 

"  I  know,"  he  says,  "  that  water  dropping  on  a  stone  will  at 
length  make  a  hole."  We  shall  see  before  long  that  forebod 
ing  cavity. 


DEGRADATION  AND  D1SHEARTENMENT.          389 

The  defection  of  Roldan  turned  so  completely  into  servility 
is  "but  one  of  the  strange  contrasts  of  the  wonderful  course  of 
vicissitudes  in  the  life  of  Columbus.     There  presently  came  a 
new  trial  for  him  and  for  Roldan.     A  young  well-born  Span 
iard,  Fernando  de  Guevara,  had  appeared  in  Espa-  Coiumbus 
nola  recently,  and  by  his  dissolute  life  he  had  created  and  Roldan- 
such  scandals  in  Santo  Domingo  that  Columbus  had  ordered 
him  to  leave  the  island.     He  had  been  sent  to  Xa- 
ragua  to  embark  in  one  of  Ojeda's  ships ;   but  that 
adventurer  had  left  the  coast  when    the  outlaw  reached  the 
port.     While  waiting  another  opportunity  to  embark,  Guevara 
was  kept  in  that  part  of  the  island  under  Roldan's  eye.     This 
implied  no  such  restraint  as  to  deny  him  access  to  the  society  of 
Anacaona,  with  whose  daughter,  Higuamota,  who  seems  to  have 
inherited    something    of    her    mother's   commanding  Anacaona's 
beauty  and  mental  qualities,  he  fell  in  love,  and  found  daushter- 
his  passion  requited.     He  sought  companionship  also  with  one 
of  the  lieutenants  of  Roldan,  who  had  been  a  leader   in  his 
late  revolt,  Adrian  de  Moxica,  then  living  not   far  Adrian  de 
away,  who  had  for  him  the  additional  attachment  of  Moxica- 
kinship,  for  the  two  were  cousins.     Las  Casas   tells  us   that 
Roldan  had  himself  a  passion  for  the  young  Indian  beauty,  and 
it  may  have  been  for  this  as  well  as  for  his  desire  to  obey  the 
Admiral  that  he  commanded  the  young  cavalier  to  go  to  a  more 
distant  province.     The  ardent  lover  had  sought  to  prepare  his 
way  for  a  speedy  marriage  by  trying  to  procure  a  priest  to  bap 
tize  the  maiden.     This   caused  more    urgent   commands   from 
Roldan,  which  were  ostentatiously  obeyed,  only  to  be  eluded  by 
a  clandestine  return,  when   he  was   screened  with  some  asso 
ciates  in  the  house  of  Anacaona.     This  queenly  woman  seems 
to  have  favored  his  suit  with  her  daughter.     He  was  once  more 
ordered  away,  when  he  began  to  bear  himself  defiantly,  but  soon 
changed  his  method  to  suppliancy.     Roldan  was  appeased  by 
this.     Guevara,  however,  only  made  it  the  cloak  for  revenge, 
and  with   some  of  his  friends  formed  a  plot  to  kill   Roldan. 
This  leaked  out,  and  the  youth  and  his  accomplices  were  ar 
rested  and  sent  to  Santo  Domingo.     This  action  aroused  Rol- 
dan's  old  confederate,  Moxica,  and,  indignant  at  the  way  in 
which  the  renegade  rebel  had  dared  to  turn  upon  his  former  asso 
ciates,  Moxica  resolved  upon  revenge.    To  carry  it  out  he  started 


390  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

on  a  tour  through  the  country  where  the  late  mutineers  were  set- 
Moxica's  ^ec^  and  readily  engaged  their  sympathies.  Among 
plot-  those  who  joined  in  his  plot  was  Pedro  Eiquelme, 

whom  Roldan  had  made  assistant  alcalde.  The  old  spirit  of 
revolt  was  rampant.  The  confederates  were  ready  for  any 
excess,  either  upon  Roldan  or  upon  the  Admiral.  Columbus 
was  at  Conception  in  the  midst  of  the  aroused  district,  when  a 
deserter  from  the  plotters  informed  him  of  their  plan.  With  a 
small  party  the  Admiral  at  once  sped  in  the  night  to  the  un- 
Moxica  guarded  quarters  of  the  leaders,  and  Moxica  and  sev 
eral  of  his  chief  advisers  were  suddenly  captured  and 
carried  to  the  fort.  The  execution  of  the  ringleader  was  at 
once  ordered.  Impatient  at  the  way  in  which  the  condemned 
man  dallied  in  his  confessions  to  a  priest,  Columbus  ordered  him 
pushed  headlong  from  the  battlements.  The  French  canonists 
screen  Columbus  for  this  act  by  making  Roldan  the  perpetrator 
of  it.  The  other  confederates  were  ironed  in  confinement  at 
Conception,  except  Riquelrne,  who  was  taken  later  and  conveyed 
to  Santo  Domingo. 

The  revolt  was  thus  summarily  crushed.  Those  who  had 
escaped  fled  to  Xaragua,  whither  the  Adelantado  and  Roldan 
pursued  them  without  mercy. 

Columbus  had  perhaps  never  got  his  colony  under  better  con. 

trol  than  existed  after  this  vigorous  exhibition  of  his 

and  his  coi-    authority.     Such   a  show  of   prompt  and  audacious 

energy  was  needed  to  restore  the  moral  supremacy 

which  his  recusancy  under  the  threats  of  Roldan  had  lost.     The 

fair  weather  was  not  to  last  long. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  August  23,  1500,  two  caravels  were 
isoo.  AU-  descried  off  the  harbor  of  Santo  Domingo.  The  Ad- 
badiiiaar?0  miral's  brother  Diego  was  in  authority,  Columbus 
rives.  being  still  at  Conception,  and  Bartholomew  absent 

with  Roldan.  Diego  sent  out  a  canoe  to  learn  the  purpose  of 
the  visitors.  It  returned,  and  brought  word  that  a  commis 
sioner  was  come  to  inquire  into  the  late  rebellion  of  Roldan. 
Diego's  messengers  had  at  the  same  time  informed  the  new 
comer  of  the  most  recent  defection  of  Moxica,  and  that  there 
were  still  other  executions  to  take  place,  particularly  those  of 
Riqueline  and  Guevara,  who  were  confined  in  the  town.  As 


392  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

the  ships  entered  the  river,  the  gibbets  on  either  bank,  with 
their  dangling  Spaniards,  showed  the  commissioner  that  there 
were  other  troublous  times  to  inquire  into  than  those  named  in 
his  warrant.  While  the  commissioner  remained  on  board  his 
ship,  receiving  the  court  of  those  who  early  sought  to  propiti 
ate  him,  and  while  he  was  getting  his  first  information  of  the 
condition  of  the  island,  mainly  from  those  who  had  something 
to  gain  by  the  excess  of  their  denunciations,  it  is  necessary  to 
go  back  a  little  in  time,  and  ascertain  who  this  important  per 
sonage  was,  and  what  was  the  mission  on  which  he  had  been 
sent. 

The  arrangements  for  sending  him  had  been  made  slowly. 

^h  They  were  even  outlined  when  Ojeda  had  started  on 
the  royal  his  voyage,  for  he  had,  in  his  interviews  with  Roldan, 
tionwith  blindly  indicated  that  some  astonishment  of  this  sort 

Columbus.  .  -r\    •  t         i       -r\ 

was  in  store.  .Evidently  lonseca  had  not  allowed 
Ojeda  to  depart  without  some  intimations. 

Notwithstanding  Columbus  professed  to  believe  that  nothing 

but  the  lack  of  pecuniary  return  for  the  great  outlays 
against  Co-  of  his  expeditions  could  be  alleged  against  them,  he 

was  well  aware,  and  he  had  constantly  acted  as  if  well 
aware,  of  the  great  array  of  accusations  which  had  been  made 
against  him  in  Spain,  with  a  principal  purpose  of  undermining 
the  indulgent  regard  of  the  Queen  for  him.  He  had  known  it 
with  sorrow  during  his  last  visit  to  Spain,  and  had  found,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  he  could  not  secure  men  to  accompany  him  and 
put  themselves  under  his  control  unless  he  unshackled  crim 
inals  in  the  jails.  He  little  thought  that  such  utter  disregard 
of  the  morals  and  self-respect  of  those  whom  he  had  settled  in 
the  New  World  would,  by  a  sort  of  retributive  justice,  open  the 
way,  however  unjustly,  to  put  the  displaced  gyves  on  himself, 
amid  the  exultant  feelings  of  these  same  criminals.  Such  reit 
erated  criminations  were  like  the  water-drops  that  wear  the 
stone,  and  he  had,  as  we  have  noted,  felt  the  certainty  of  direful 
results. 

How  much  the  disappointment  at  the  lack  of  gold  had  to  do 
with  increasing  the  force  of  these  charges,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
imagine.  Columbus  was  certainly  not  responsible  for  that; 
but  he  was  responsible  for  the  inordinate  growth  of  the  belief 
in  the  profuse  wealth  of  the  new-found  Indies.  His  constantly 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.          393 

repeated  stories  of  the  wonderful  richness  of  the  region  had  done 
their  work.  His  professions  of  a  purpose  to  enrich  the  Hig  exagger- 
world  with  noble  benefactions,  and  to  spend  his  treas-  $Sh°ofthe 
ure  on  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  were  the  the  Indies< 
vain  boastings  of  a  man  who  thought  thereby  to  enroll  his 
name  among  the  benefactors  of  the  Church.  He  did  not  per 
ceive  that  the  populace  would  wonder  whence  these 

Columbus 

resources  were  to  come,  unless  it  was  by  defrauding  deceives  the 

Crown 

the  Crown  of  its  share,  and  by  amassing  gold  while 
they  could  not  get  any.  There  is  something  ludicrous  in  the 
excuse  which  he  later  gave  for  concealing  from  the  sovereigns 
his  accumulation  of  pearls.  He  felt  it  sufficient  to  say  that 
he  thought  he  would  wait  till  he  could  make  as  good  a  show 
of  gold !  There  were  some  things  that  even  fifteenth-century 
Christians  held  to  be  more  sacred  than  wresting  Jerusalem 
from  the  Moslem,  and  these  were  money  in  hand  when  they 
had  earned  it,  and  food  to  eat  when  their  misfortunes  had  beg 
gared  their  lives.  It  was  not  an  uncalled-for  strain  on  their 
loyalty  to  the  Crown,  when  the  notion  prevailed  that  the  sov 
ereigns  and  their  favorite  were  gathering  riches  out  of  their 
despair.  There  was  little  to  be  wondered  at,  in  the  crowd  of 
these  hungry  and  debilitated  victims,  wandering  about  the 
courts  of  the  Alhambra,  under  the  royal  windows,  and 
clamoring  for  their  pay.  There  was  nothing  to  be 
surprised  at  in  the  hootings  that  followed  the  Ad-  Alhambra- 
miral's  sons,  pages  of  the  Queen,  if  they  passed  within  sight 
of  these  embittered  throngs. 

It  was  quite  evident  that  Ferdinand,  who  had  never  warmed 
to  the  Admiral's  enthusiasm,  had  long  been  conscious  that  in 
the  exclusive  and  extended  powers  which  had  been 

i       r\   i         i  •  •     •  -iii          Ferdinand's 

given  to  Columbus  a  serious   administrative   blunder  confessed 
had  been  made.     He  said  as  much  at  a  later  day  to 
Ponce  de  Leon. 

The  Queen  had  been  faithful,  but  the  recurrent  charges  had 
given  of  late  a  wrench  to  her  constancy.  Was  it  not  certain 
that  something  must  be  wrong,  or  these  accusations  would  not  go 
on  increasing  ?  Had  not  the  great  discoverer  fulfilled  his  mis 
sion  when  he  unveiled  a  new  world  ?  Was  it  quite  sure  that 
the  ability  to  govern  it  went  along  with  the  genius  to  find  it  ? 
These  were  the  questions  which  Isabella  began  to  put  to  her- 


394  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

self.     She  was  not  a  person  to  hesitate  at  anything,  when  con 
viction  came.     She  had  shown  this  in  the  treatment 
gins  to          of  the  Jews,  of  the  Moors,  and  of  other  heretics.     The 
conviction  that  Columbus  was  not  equal  to  his  trust 
was  now  coming  to  her.     The  news  of  the  serious  outbreak  of 
Roldan's  conspiracy  brought  the  matter  to  a  test,  and 
to  be  super-    in  the  spring  of  1499  the  purpose  to  send  out  some 
one  with  almost  unlimited  powers  for  any  emergency 
was  decided  upon.     Still  the  details  were  not  worked  out,  and 
there  were   occurrences   in  the  internal   and   external   affairs 
of  Spain  that  required  the  prior  attention  of  the  sovereigns. 
Very  likely  the  news  of  Columbus's  success  in  finding  a  new 
source  of  wealth  in  the  pearls  of  Paria  may  have  had  some 
thing  to  do  with  the  delay.     When  the  ships  which  carried  to 
Spain  a  crowd  of  Roldan's  followers  arrived,  the  question  took 
a  fresh  interest.     Columbus's  friends,  Ballester  and  Barrantes, 

now  found   their   testimony  could  make  little  head- 
witnesses  .  ..      ~        .  1 
against  Co-     way  against   the  crowd   ot   embittered  witnesses   on 

the  other  side.  Isabella,  besides,  was  forced  to  see 
in  the  slaves  that  Columbus  had  sent  by  the  same  ships  some 
thing  of  an  obstinate  opposition  to  her  own  wishes.  Las  Casas 
tells  us  that  so  great  was  the  Queen's  displeasure  that  it  was 
only  the  remembrance  of  Columbus's  services  that  saved  him 
from  prompt  disgrace.  To  be  sure,  the  slaves  had  been  sent  in 
part  by  virtue  of  the  capitulation  which  Columbus  had  made 
with  the  rebels,  but  should  the  Viceroy  of  the  Indies  be  forced 
to  such  capitulations  ?  Had  he  kept  the  colony  in  a  condition 
worthy  of  her  queenly  patronage,  when  it  could  be  reported  to 
her  that  the  daughters  of  caciques  were  found  among  these 
natives  bearing  their  hybrid  babes?  "  What  authority  had  my 
viceroy  to  give  my  vassals  to  such  ends?"  she  asked. 

There  were  two  things  in  recent  letters  of  Columbus  which 
damaged  his  cause  just  at  this  juncture.     One  was  his 
and  the  slave  petition  for  a  new  lease  of  the  slave  trade.     This  Isa 
bella  answered  by  ordering  all  slaves  which  he  had 
sent  home  to  be  sought  out  and  returned.     Her  agents  found  a 
Bobadma       few<     The  other  was  the  request  of  Columbus  for  a 
conSSsf1      judge  to  examine  the  dispute  between   himself   and 
Roldan.     This  Ferdinand  answered  by  appointing  the 
commissioner  whose  arrival  at  Santo  Domingo  we  have  chron- 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.          395 

icled.     He  was  Francisco  de  Bobadilla,  an  officer  of  the  royal 
household. 

Before  disclosing  what  Bobadilla  did  in  Santo  Domingo,  it  is 
best  to  try  to  find  out  what  he  was  expected  to  do. 

There  is  no  person  connected  with  the  career  of  Columbus 
—  hardly  excepting  Fonseca  —  more  generally  defamed  than 
this  man,  who  was,  nevertheless,  if  we  may  believe  Hischarac- 
Oviedo,  a  very  honest  and  a  very  religious  man.  The  ter' 
historians  of  Columbus  need  to  mete  out  to  Bobadilla  what 
very  few  have  done,  the  same  measure  of  palliation  which  they 
are  more  willing  to  bestow  on  Columbus.  With  this  parallel 
justice,  it  may  be  that  he  will  not  bear  with  discredit  a  com 
parison  with  Columbus  himself,  in  all  that  makes  a  man's 
actions  excusable  under  provocation  and  responsibility.  An 
indecency  of  haste  may  come  from  an  excess  of  zeal  quite  as 
well  as  from  an  unbridled  virulence. 

It  may  be  in  some  ways  a  question  if  the  conditions  this  man 
was  sent  to  correct  were  the  result  of  the  weakness  or  inadapta 
bility  of  Columbus,  or  merely  the  outcome  of  circumstances, 
enough  beyond  his  control  to  allow  of  excuses.  There  is,  how 
ever,  no  question  that  the  Spanish  government  had  duties  to 
perform  towards  itself  and  its  subjects  which  made  it  prop 
erly  disinclined  to  jeopardize  the  interests  which  accompany 
such  duties. 

Bobadilla  was,  to  be  sure,  invested  with  dangerous  powers, 
but  not  with  more  dangerous  ones  than  Columbus  Boba(jma's 
himself  had  possessed.  When  two  such  personations  P°wers- 
of  unbridled  authority  come  in  antagonism,  the  possessor  of  the 
greater  authority  is  sure  to  confirm  himself  by  commensurate 
exactions  upon  the  other.  Bobadilla's  commission  was  an  im 
plied  warrant  to  that  end.  He  might  have  been  more  prudent 
of  his  own  state,  and  should  have  remembered  that  a  trust  of  the 
nature  of  that  with  which  he  was  invested  was  sure  to  be  made 
accountable  to  those  who  imparted  to  him  the  power,  and  per 
haps  at  a  time  when  they  chose  to  abandon  their  own  instruc 
tions.  He  ought  to  have  known  that  such  an  abandonment 
comes  very  easy  to  all  governments  in  emergencies.  He  might 
have  been  more  considerate  of  the  man  whom  Spain  had  so  re 
cently  flattered.  He  should  not  have  forgotten,  if  almost  every 
body  else  had,  that  the  Admiral  had  given  a  new  world  to  Spain. 


396  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

He  should  not  have  been  unmindful,  if  almost  every  one  else 
was,  that  this  new  world  was  a  delusion  now,  but  might  dissolve 
into  a  beatific  vision.  But  all  this  was  rather  more  than  human 
nature  was  capable  of  in  an  age  like  that.  It  is  to  be  said  of 
Bobadilla  that  when  he  summoned  Columbus  to  Santo  Domingo 
and  prejudged  him  guilty,  he  had  shown  no  more  disregard  of  a 
rival  power,  which  he  was  sent  to  regulate,  than  Columbus  had 
manifested  for  a  deluded  colony,  when  he  selfishly  infected  it 
with  the  poison  of  the  prisons.  It  must  not,  indeed,  be  for 
gotten  that  the  strongest  support  of  the  new  envoy  came  from 
the  very  elements  of  vice  which  Columbus  had  implanted  in 
the  island.  He  grew  to  understand  this,  and  later  he 

Columbus  '     . 

and  the         was  forced  to  give  a  condemnation  of  his  own   act 
when  he  urged  the  sending  of  such  as  are  honorably 
known,  "  that  the  country  may  be  peopled  with  honest  men." 

Las  Casas  tells  us  of  Bobadilla  that  his  probity  and  disinter 
estedness  were  such  that  no  one  could  attack  them.  If  it  be 
left  for  posterity  to  decide  between  the  word  of  Las  Casas  and 
Columbus,  in  estimates  of  virtue  and  honesty,  there  is  no  ques 
tion  of  the  result.  When  Bobadilla  was  selected  to  be  sent  to 
Bobadiiia's  Espanola,  there  was  every  reason  to  choose  the  most 
character.  Upright  of  persons.  There  was  every  reason,  also,  to 
instruct  him  with  a  care  that  should  consider  every  probable 
attendant  circumstance.  After  this  was  done,  the  discretion  of 
the  man  was  to  determine  all.  We  can  read  in  the  records  the 
formal  instructions  ;  but  there  were  beside,  as  is  expressly  stated, 
verbal  directions  which  can  only  be  surmised.  Bobadilla  was 
accused  of  exceeding  the  wishes  of  the  Queen.  Are  we  sure 
that  he  did  ?  It  is  no  sign  of  it  that  the  monarchs 
ceedhis  subsequently  found  it  politic  to  disclaim  the  act  of 
their  agent.  Such  a  desertion  of  a  subordinate  was 
not  unusual  in  those  times,  nor  indeed  would  it  be  now. 

If  Isabella,  "  for  the  love  of  Christ  and  the  Virgin  Mary," 
could  depopulate  towns,  as  she  said  she  did,  by  the  ravages  of 
the  inquisition,  and  fill  her  coffers  by  the  attendant  sequestra 
tions,  it  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  that,  with  a  similar  and  con 
venient  conviction  of  duty,  she  would  give  no  narrow  range  to 
her  vindictiveness  and  religious  zeal  when  she  came  to  deal 
with  an  Admiral  whom  she  had  created,  and  who  was  not  very 
deferential  to  her  wishes. 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.          397 

A  synopsis  of  the  powers  confided  to  Bobadilla  in  writing 
needs  to  be  presented.  They  begjin  with  a  letter  of  Bobadiiia's 
March  21,  1499,  referring  to  reports  of  the  Eoldan  powers- 
insurrection,  and  directing  him,  if  on  inquiry  he  finds  any  per 
sons  culpable,  to  arrest  them  and  sequestrate  their  effects,  and 
to  call  upon  the  Admiral  for  assistance  in  carrying  out  these 
orders.  Two  months  later,  May  21,  a  circular  letter  was 
framed  and  addressed  to  the  magistrates  of  the  islands,  which 
seems  to  have  been  intended  to  accredit  Bobadilla  to  them,  if 
the  Admiral  should  be  no  longer  in  command.  This  order  gave 
notice  to  these  magistrates  of  the  full  powers  which  had  been 
given  to  Bobadilla  in  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction.  Another 
order  of  the  same  date,  addressed  to  the  "  Admiral  of  the  ocean 
sea,"  orders  him  to  surrender  all  royal  property,  whether  forts, 
arms,  or  otherwise,  into  Bobadiiia's  hands,  —  evidently  intended 
to  have  an  accompanying  effect  with  the  other.  Of  a  date  five 
days  later  another  letter  addressed  to  the  Admiral  reads  to  this 
effect :  — 

"  We  have  directed  Francisco  de  Bobadilla,  the  bearer  of 
this,  to  tell  you  for  us  of  certain  things  to  be  mentioned  by 
him.  We  ask  you  to  give  faith  and  credence  to  what  he  says, 
and  to  obey  him.  May  26,  1499." 

This  is  an  explicit  avowal  on  the  sovereigns'  part  of  having 
given  verbal  orders.    In  addition  to  these  instructions,  His  verbal 
a  royal  order  required  the  commissioner  to  ascertain  orders- 
what  was  due  from  the  Crown  for  unpaid  salaries,  and  to  compel 
the  Admiral  to  join  in  liquidating  such  obligations  so  far  as  he 
was  bound  for  them,  "  that  there  may  be  no  more  complaints." 
If  one  may  believe  Columbus's  own  statements  as  made  in  his 
subsequent  letter  to  the  nurse  of  Prince  Juan,  it  had  been  neg 
lect,   and  not  inability,  on  his   part  which  had  allowed  these 
arrears  to  accrue.     Bobadilla  was  also  furnished  with  blanks 
signed  by  the  sovereigns,  to  be  used  to  further  their  purposes  in 
any  way  and  at  his  discretion.     With  these  extraordinary  docu 
ments,  and  possessed  of  such  verbal  and   confidential  directions 
as  we  may  imagine  rather  than  prove,  Bobadilla  had 
sailed  in  July,  1500,  more  than  a  year  after  the  let-   Boba<mia  ' 
ters  were  dated.     His  two  caravels  brought  back  to 
Espanola  a  number  of    natives,  who  were  in  charge  of  some 
Franciscan  friars. 


398  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

We  left  Bobadilla  on  board  his  ship,  receiving  court  from  all 
Bobadiiia  w^°  desired  thus  early  to  get  his  ear.  It  was  not  till 
So  DO-  *ne  nex*  day  *^a*  he  landed,  attended  by  a  guard  of 
nungo.  twenty-five  men,  when  he  proceeded  to  the  church  to 
mass. 

This  over,  the  crowd  gathered  before  the  church.  Bobadilla 
ordered  a  herald  to  read  his  original  commission  of  March  21, 
Hisde.  1499,  and  then  he  demanded  of  the  acting  governor, 
Diego,  who  was  present,  that  Guevara,  Kiquelme,  and 
the  other  prisoners  should  be  delivered  to  him,  together  with  all 
the  evidence  in  their  cases,  and  that  the  accusers  and  magis 
trates  should  appear  before  him.  Diego  referred  him  to  the 
Admiral  as  alone  having  power  in  such  matters,  and  asked  for 
a  copy  of  the  document  just  read  to  send  to  Columbus.  This 
Bobadilla  declined  to  give,  and  retired,  intimating,  however, 
that  there  were  reserved  powers  which  he  had,  before  which 
even  the  Admiral  must  bow. 

The  peremptoriness  of  this  movement  was,  it  would  seem, 
uncalled  for,  and  there  could  have  been  little  misfortune  in 
waiting  the  coming  of  the  Admiral,  compared  with  the  natural 
results  of  such  sudden  overturning  of  established  authority  in 
the  absence  of  the  holder  of  it.  Urgency  may  not,  neverthe 
less,  have  been  without  its  claims.  It  was  desirable  to  stay  the 
intended  executions;  and  we  know  not  what  exaggerations 
had  already  filled  the  ears  of  Bobadilla.  At  this  time  there 
would  seem  to  have  been  the  occasion  to  deliver  the  letter  to 
Columbus  which  had  commanded  his  obedience  to  the  verbal 
instructions  of  the  sovereigns;  and  such  a  delivery  might  have 
turned  the  current  of  these  hurrying  events,  for  Columbus  had 
shown,  in  the  case  of  Agueda,  that  he  was  graciously  inclined 
to  authority.  Instead  of  this,  however,  Bobadilla,  the  next 
day,  again  appeared  at  mass,  and  caused  his  other  commissions 
to  be  read,  which  in  effect  made  him  supersede  the  Admiral. 
This  superiority  Diego  and  his  councilors  still  unadvisedly  de 
clined  to  recognize.  The  other  mandates  were  read  in  succes 
sion  ;  and  the  gradual  rise  to  power,  which  the  documents 
seemed  to  imply,  as  the  progress  of  the  investigations  demanded 
support,  was  thus  reached  at  a  bound.  This  is  the  view  of  the 
case  which  has  been  taken  by  Columbus's  biographers,  as  nat 
urally  drawn  from  the  succession  of  the  powers  which  were 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.  399 

given  to  Bobadilla.  It  is  merely  an  inference,  and  we  know  not 
the  directions  for  their  proclamations,  which  had  been  verbally 
imparted  to  Bobadilla.  It  is  this  uncertainty  which  surrounds 
the  case  with  doubt.  It  is  apparent  that  the  reading  of  these 
papers  had  begun  to  impress  the  rabble,  if  not  those  in  author 
ity.  That  order  which  commanded  the  payment  of  arrears  of 
salaries  had  a  very  gratifying  effect  on  those  who  had  suffered 
from  delays.  Nothing,  however,  moved  the  representatives  of 
the  Viceroy,  who  would  not  believe  that  anything  could  surpass 
his  long-conceded  authority. 

There  is  nothing  strange  in  the  excitement  of  an  officer  who 
finds  his  undoubted  supremacy  thus  obstinately  spurned,  and 
we  must  trace  to  such  excitement  the  somewhat  overstrained 
conduct  which  made  a  show  of  carrying;  by  assault  the 

.  i  •    i       /^  i     ,1 1  j.i  •  Bobadilla 

iortress  in  which  (jruevara  and  the  other  prisoners  assaults  the 
were  confined.  Miguel  Diaz,  who  commanded  the 
fort,  —  the  same  who  had  disclosed  the  Hayna  mines,  —  when 
summoned  to  surrender  had  referred  Bobadilla  to  the  Admiral 
from  whom  his  orders  came,  and  asked  for  copies  of  the  let 
ters  patent  and  orders,  for  more  considerate  attention.  It  was 
hardly  to  be  expected  that  Bobadilla  was  to  be  beguiled  by  any 
such  device,  when  he  had  a  force  of  armed  men  at  his  back, 
aided  by  his  crew  and  the  aroused  rabble,  and  when  there  was 
nothing  before  him  but  a  weak  citadel  with  few  defenders. 
There  was  nothing  to  withstand  the  somewhat  ridiculous  shock 
of  the  assault  but  a  few  frail  bars,  and  no  need  of  the  scaling 

'  O 

ladders  which  were  ostentatiously  set  up.  Diaz  and  one  com 
panion,  with  sword  in  hand,  stood  passively  representing  the 
outraged  dignity  of  command.  Bobadilla  was  victorious,  and 
the  manacled  Guevara  and  the  rest  passed  over  to  new  and  less 
stringent  keepers. 

Bobadilla  was  now  in  possession  of  every  channel  of  author 
ity.     He  domiciled  himself  in  the  house  of  Columbus, 
took  possession  of  all  his  effects,  including  his  papers,  in°fuii  pos- 
making  no  distinction  between  public  and  private  ones, 
and  used  what  money  he  could  find  to  pay  the  debts  of  the 
Admiral  as  they  were  presented  to  him.     This  proceeding  was 
well  calculated  to  increase  his  popularity,  and  it  was  still  more 
enhanced  when  he  proclaimed  liberty  to  all  to  gather  gold  for 
twenty  years,  with  only  the  payment  of  one  seventh  instead  of 
a  third  to  the  Crown. 


400  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Let  us  turn  to  Columbus  himself.  The  reports  which 
reached  him  at  Fort  Conception  did  not  at  first  con- 
hears  of  vey  to  him  an  adequate  notion  of  what  he  was  to  en 
counter.  He  associated  the  proceedings  with  such 
unwarranted  acts  as  Ojeda's  and  Pinzon's  in  coming  with 
their  ships  within  his  prescribed  dominion.  The  greater  au 
dacity,  however,  alarmed  him,  and  the  threats  which  Bobadilla 
had  made  of  sending  him  to  Spain  in  irons,  and  the  known 
success  of  his  usurpation  within  the  town,  were  little  calculated 
to  make  Columbus  confident  in  the  temporary  character  of  the 
outburst.  He  moved  his  quarters  to  Bonao  to  be  nearer  the 
confusion,  and  here  he  met  an  officer  bearing  to  him  a  copy  of 
the  letters  under  which  the  government  had  been  assumed  by 
Bobadilla.  Still  the  one  addressed  to  Columbus,  commanding 
him  to  acquiesce,  was  held  back.  It  showed  palpably  that 
Bobadilla  conceived  he  had  passed  beyond  the  judicial  aim  of 
his  commission.  Columbus,  on  his  part,  was  loath  to  reach 
that  conclusion,  and  tried  to  gain  time.  He  wrote  to  Bobadilla 
an  exculpating  and  temporizing  letter,  saying  that  he  was  about 
to  leave  for  Spain,  when  everything  would  pass  regularly 
into  Bobadilla's  control.  He  sent  other  letters,  calculated  to 
create  delays,  to  the  Franciscans  who  had  come  with 
and  the  him.  He  had  himself  affiliated  with  that  order,  and 
perhaps  thought  his  influence  might  not  be  unheeded. 
He  got  no  replies,  and  perhaps  never  knew  what  the  spirit  of 
these  friars  was.  They  evidently  reflected  the  kind  of  testi 
mony  which  Bobadilla  had  been  accumulating.  We  find 
somewhat  later,  in  a  report  of  one  of  them,  Nicholas  Glass- 
berger,  —  who  speaks  of  the  1,500  natives  whom  they  had 
made  haste  to  baptize  in  Santo  Domingo,  —  some  of  the  cruel 
insinuations  which  were  rife,  when  he  speaks  of  "a  certain 
admiral,  captain,  and  chief,  who  had  ill  treated  these  natives, 
taking  their  goods  and  wives,  and  capturing  their  virgin  daugh 
ters,  and  had  been  sent  to  Spain  in  chains." 

Columbus  as  yet  could  hardly  have  looked  forward  to  any 
such  indignity  as  manacles  on  his  limbs.  Nor  did  he  probably 
suspect  that  Bobadilla  was  using  the  signed  blanks,  entrusted 
to  him  by  the  sovereigns,  to  engage  the  interests  of  Roldan  and 
other  deputies  of  the  Viceroy  scattered  through  the  island. 
Columbus,  in  these  uncertainties,  caused  it  to  be  known  that 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.  401 

he  considered  his  perpetual  powers  still  unrevoked,  if  indeed 
they  were  revocable  at  all.  This  state  of  his  mind  was  rudely 
jarred  by  receiving  a  little  later,  at  the  hands  of  Francisco 
Velasquez,  the  deputy  treasurer,  and  of  Juan  de  Trasierra,  one 
of  the  Franciscans,  the  letter  addressed  to  him  by  the 

-r»  -i  MI       Bobadilla 

sovereigns,  commanding  him  to  respect  what  Bobadilla  sendsjhe^ 
should  tell  him.     Here  was  tangible  authority  ;  and  letter  to 

J  Columbus. 

when  it  was  accompanied  by  a  summons  from  .Boba 

dilla  to  appear  before  him,  he  hesitated  no  longer,  and,  with  the 

little  state  befitting  his  disgrace,  proceeded  at  once  to  Santo 

Domingo. 

The  Admiral's  brother  Diego  had  already  been  confined  in 
irons  on  one  of  the  caravels  ;  and  Bobadilla,  affecting  to  believe, 
as  Irving  holds,  that  Columbus  would  not  come  in  any  compli 
ant  mood,  made  a  bustle  of  armed  preparation.     There  was, 
however,  no  such  intention  on  Coluinbus's  part,   nor  Columbus 
had  been,   since  the  royal  mandate  of  implicit  obe-  E^Do?8 
dience  had  been  received.     He  came  as  quietly  as  the  mms°- 
circumstances  would  permit,  and  when  the  new  governor  heard 
he  was  within  his  grasp,  his  orders  to  seize  him  and  throw  him 
into  prison  were  promptly  executed  (August  23,  1500). 

__  _  %        1500.     A.U- 

In  the  southeastern  part  of  the  town,  the  tower  still  gust  23.  co- 


,.,.  /.,  i'ii  «T 

stands,  with  little  signs  01  decay,  which  then  received   imprisoned 

.  .11  in  chains. 

the  dejected  Admiral,  and  from  its  summit  all  ap 
proaching  vessels  are  signaled  to-day.     Las  Casas  tells  us  of 
the  shameless  and  graceless  cook,  one  of  Columbus's  own  house- 
hold,  who  riveted  the  fetters.     "  I  knew  the  fellow,"  says  that 
historian,  "  and  I  think  his  name  was  Espinosa." 

While  the  Adelantado  was  at  large  with  an  armed  force, 
Bobadilla  was  not  altogether  secure  in  his  triumph.  He  de 
manded  of  Columbus  to  write  to  his  brother  and  counsel  him 
to  come  in  and  surrender.  This  Columbus  did,  assuring  the 
Adelantado  of  their  safety  in  trusting  to  the  later  justice  of 
the  Crown.  Bartholomew  obeyed,  as  the  best  authorities  say, 
though  Peter  Martyr  mentions  a  rumor  that  he  came  in  no 
accommodating  spirit,  and  was  captured  while  in  advance  of 
his  force.  It  is  certain  he  also  was  placed  in  irons,  and  con 
fined  on  one  of  the  caravels.  It  was  Bobadilla's  purpose  to 
keep  the  leaders  apart,  so  there  could  be  no  concert  of  action, 
and  even  to  prevent  their  seeing  any  one  who  could  inform 


402  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

them  of  the  progress  of  the  inquest,  which  was  at  once  begun. 
It  seems  evident  that  Bobadilla,  either  of  his  own  impulse  or  in 
accordance  with  secret  instructions,  was  acting  with  a  secrecy 
and  precipitancy  which  would  have  been  justifiable  in  the  pres 
ence  of  armed  sedition,  but  was  uncalled  for  with  no  organized 
opposition  to  embarrass  him.  Columbus  at  a  later  day  tells  us 
that  he  was  denied  ample  clothing,  even,  and  was  otherwise  ill 
treated.  He  says,  too,  he  had  no  statement  of  charges 
against  Co-  given  to  him.  It  is  a  later  story,  started  by  Charlevoix. 

luinbus.  .  .  ,,.... 

that  such  accusations  were  presented  to  him  in  writing, 
and  met  by  him  in  the  same  method. 

The  trial  was  certainly  a  remarkable  procedure,  except  we 
consider  it  simply  an  ex  parte  process  for  indictment  only,  as 
indeed  it  really  was.  Irving  lays  stress  on  the  reversal  by  Bo 
badilla  of  the  natural  order  of  his  acts,  amounting,  in  fact,  to 
prejudging  a  person  he  was  sent  to  examine.  He  also  thinks 
that  the  governor  was  hurried  to  his  conclusions  in  order  to 
make  up  a  show  of  necessity  for  his  precipitate  action.  It  has 
something  of  that  look.  "  The  rebels  he  had  been  sent  to  judge 
became,  by  this  singular  perversion  of  rule,"  says  Irving,  "  ne 
cessary  and  cherished  evidences  to  criminate  those  against 
whom  they  had  rebelled."  This  is  the  mistake  of  the  apologists 
for  Columbus.  Bobadilla  seems  to  have  been  sent  to  judge 
between  two  parties,  and  not  to  assume  that  only  one  was  cul 
pable.  Even  Irving  suspects  the  true  conditions.  He  allows 
that  Bobadilla  would  not  have  dared  to  go  to  this  length,  had 
he  not  felt  assured  that  "  certain  things,"  as  the  mandate  to 
Columbus  expressed  it,  would  not  be  displeasing  to  the  king. 

The  charges  against  the  Admiral  had  been  stock  ones  for 
years,  and  we  have  encountered  them  more  than  once  in  the 
progress  of  this  narrative.  They  are  rehearsed  at  length  in  the 
documents  given  by  Navarrete,  and  are  repeated  and  summarized 
by  Peter  Martyr.  It  is  perhaps  true  that  there  was  some  nov 
elty  in  the  asseveration  that  Columbus's  recent  refusal  to  have 
some  Indians  baptized  was  simply  because  it  deprived  him  of 
selling  them  as  slaves.  This  accusation,  considering  Columbus's 
relations  to  the  slave  trade  which  he  had  created,  is  as  little  to 
be  wondered  at  as  any. 

Las  Casas  tells  us  how  indignant  Isabella  had  been  with  his 
presumptuous  way  of  dealing  with  what  she  called  her  subjects, 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.          403 

and  by  a  royal  order  of  June  20,  1500,  she  had  ordered,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  return  in  Bobadilla's  fleet  of  nine-  ColumbU8 
teen  of  the  slaves  who  had  been  sold.  There  was  no  and  slaver>- 
better  way  of  commending  Bobadilla's  action  to  the  Queen,  ap 
parently,  than  by  making  the  most  of  Columbus's  unfortunate 
relations  to  the  slave  trade. 

As  the  accusations  were  piled  up,  Bobadilla  saw  the  inquest 
leading,  in  his  mind,  to  but  one  conclusion,  the  unnatural  char 
acter  of  the  Viceroy  and  his  unfitness  for  command,  —  a  phrase 
not  far  from  the  truth,  but  hardly  requiring  the  extraordinary 
proceedings  which  had  brought  the  governor  to  a  recognition  of 
it.  There  is  little  question  that  the  public  sentiment  of  the 
colony,  so  far  at  least  as  it  dare  manifest  itself,  commended  the 
governor.  Columbus  in  his  dungeon  might  not  see  this  with  his 
own  eyes,  but  if  the  reports  are  true,  his  ears  carried  it  to  his 
spirit,  for  howls  and  taunts  against  him  came  from  beyond  the 
walls,  as  the  expression  of  the  hordes  which  felt  relieved  by  his 
fate.  Columbus  himself  confessed  that  Bobadilla  had  "  suc 
ceeded  to  the  full  "  in  making  him  hated  of  the  people.  All 
this  was  matter  to  brood  upon  in  his  loneliness.  He  magnified 
slight  hints.  He  more  than  suspected  he  was  doomed  to  a  vio 
lent  fate.  When  Alonso  de  Villejo,  who  was  to  conduct  him  to 
Spain,  in  charge  of  the  returning  ships,  came  to  the  dungeon, 
Columbus  saw  for  the  first  time  some  recognition  of  his  unfor 
tunate  condition.  Las  Casas,  in  recounting  the  interview,  says 
that  Villejo  was  "  an  hidalgo  of  honorable  character  and  my 
particular  friend,"  and  he  doubtless  got  his  account  of  what 
took  place  from  that  important  participant. 

"  Villejo,"  said  the  prisoner,  "  whither  do  you  take  me  ? '; 

"  To  embark  on  the  ship,  your  excellency." 

"  To  embark,  Villejo  ?     Is  that  the  truth  ?  " 

"  It  is  true,"  said  the  captain. 

For  the  first  time  the  poor  Admiral  felt  that  he  yet  might  see 
Spain  and  her  sovereigns. 

The  caravels  set  sail  in  October,  1500,  and  soon  passed  out 
of  earshot  of  the  hootings  that  were  sent  after  the  1500  Octo. 
miserable  prisoners.  The  new  keepers  of  Columbus  {£*•  £°l™' 
were  not  of  the  same  sort  as  those  who  cast  such  Spain- 
farewell  taunts.  If  the  Historie  is  to  be  believed,  Bobadilla 
had  ordered  the  chains  to  be  kept  on  throughout  the  voyage, 


404  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

since,  as  the  writer  of  that  book  grimly  suggests,  Columbus 
might  at  any  time  swim  back,  if  not  secured.  Villejo  was  kind. 
So  was  the  master  of  the  caravel,  Andreas  Martin.  They  sug 
gested  that  they  could  remove  the  manacles  during  the  voyage ; 
but  the  Admiral,  with  that  cherished  constancy  which  persons 
feel,  not  always  wisely,  in  such  predicaments,  thinking  to  mag 
nify  martyrdom,  refused.  "  No,"  he  said  ;  "  my  sovereigns  or 
dered  me  to  submit,  and  Bobadilla  has  chained  me.  I 
will  wear  these  irons  until  by  royal  order  they  are  re 
moved,  and  I  shall  keep  them  as  relics  and  memorials  of  my 


The  relations  of  Columbus  and  Bobadilla  bring  before  us  the 

most  startling  of  the  many  combinations  of  events  in  the  history 

of  a  career  which  is  sadder,  perhaps,  notwithstanding  its  glory, 

than  any  other  mortal  presents  in   profane  history. 

Degradation     riTi        j  j    .•  £  t  t  £        -i  i 

of  coium-  Ine  degradation  ot  such  a  man  appeals  more  torcibly 
to  human  sympathy  than  almost  any  other  event  in 
the  record  of  humanity.  That  sympathy  has  obscured  the  im- 
His  letter  to  Por*  °^  n^s  degradation,  and  that  mournful  explana- 
MncerjSanf  ti°n  °^  tne  events,  which,  either  on  his  voyage  or 
analyzed.  shortly  after  his  return,  Columbus  wrote  and  sent  to 
the  nurse  of  Prince  Juan,  has  long  worked  upon  the  sensibili 
ties  of  a  world  tender  for  his  misfortunes.  We  cannot  indeed 
read  this  letter  without  compassion,  nor  can  we  read  it  dispas 
sionately  without  perceiving  that  the  feelings  of  the  man  who 
wrote  it  had  been  despoiled  of  a  judicial  temper  by  his  errors  as 
well  as  by  his  miseries.  His  statements  of  the  case  are  wholly 
one-sided.  He  never  sees  what  it  pains  him  to  see.  He  for 
gets  everything  that  an  enemy  would  remember.  He  finds  it 
difficult  to  tell  the  truth,  and  trusts  to  iterated  professions  to 
be  taken  for  truths.  He  claims  to  have  no  conception  why 
he  was  imprisoned,  when  he  knew  perfectly  well,  as  he  says 
himself,  that  he  had  endeavored  to  create  an  opposition  to  con 
stituted  authority  "  by  verbal  and  written  declarations ; "  and  he 
reiterates  this  statement  after  he  had  bowed  to  royal  commands 
that  were  as  explicit  as  his  own  treatment  of  them 


against         had  been  recalcitrant.     Indeed,  he  puts  himself  in  the 
rather  ridiculous  posture  of  answering  a  long  series  of 
charges,  of  which  at  the  same  time  he  professes  to  be  ignorant. 


DEGRADATION  AND  DISHEARTENMENT.          405 

In  the  course  of  this  letter,  Columbus  set  up  a  claim  that  he 
had  been  seriously  misjudged  in  trying  to  measure  his  accounta 
bility  by  the  laws  that  govern  established  governments  rather 
than  by  those  which  grant  indulgences  to  the  conqueror  of  a 
numerous  and  warlike  nation.  The  position  is  curiously  incon 
sistent  with  his  professed  intentions,  as  the  sole  ruler  of  a  col 
ony,  to  be  just  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  men.  The  Crown  had 
given  him  its  authority  to  establish  precisely  what  he  claims 
had  not  been  established,  a  government  of  laws  kindly  disposed 
to  protect  both  Spaniard  and  native,  and  yet  he  did  not  under 
stand  why  his  doings  were  called  in  question.  He  had  boasted 
repeatedly  how  far  from  warlike  and  dangerous  the  natives 
were,  so  that  a  score  of  Spaniards  could  put  seven  thousand  to 
rout,  as  he  was  eager  to  report  in  one  case.  The  chief  of  the 
accusations  against  him  did  not  pertain  to  his  malfeasance  in 
regard  to  the  natives,  but  towards  the  Spaniards  themselves, 
and  it  was  begging  the  question  to  consider  his  companions  a 
conquered  nation.  If  there  were  no  established  government  as 
respects  them,  he  would  be  the  last  to  admit  it ;  and  if  it  were 
proved  against  him,  there  was  no  one  so  responsible  for  the 
absence  of  it  as  himself.  Again  he  says :  "  I  ought  to  be 
judged  by  cavaliers  who  have  gained  victories  themselves,  —  by 
gentlemen,  and  not  by  lawyers."  The  fact  was  that  the  case 
had  been  judged  by  hidalgoes  without  number,  and  to  his  dis 
grace,  and  it  was  taken  from  them  to  give  him  the  protection  of 
the  law,  such  as  it  was ;  and,  as  he  himself  acknowledges,  there 
is  in  the  Indies  "  neither  civil  right  nor  judgment  seat."  As 
he  was  the  source  of  all  the  bulwarks  of  life  and  liberty  in  these 
same  Indies,  he  thus  acknowledges  the  deficiencies  of  his  own 
protective  agencies.  There  is  something  childishly  immature 
in  the  proposition  which  he  advances  that  he  should  be  judged 
by  persons  in  his  own  pay. 

It  is  of  course  necessary  to  allow  the  writer  of  this  letter  all 
the   palliation   that  a  man  in  his  distressed  and  dis 
ordered    condition    might    claim.     Columbus   had   in   * 
fact  been  perceptibly  drifting  into  a  state  of  delusion  and  ab 
erration  of  mind  ever  since  the  sustaining  power  of  a  great 
cause  had  been  lifted  from  him.     From  the  moment  when  he 
turned  his  mule  back  at  the  instance  of  Isabella's  message,  the 
lofty  purpose  had  degenerated  to  a  besetting  cupidity,  in  which 


406  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

he  made  even  the  Divinity  a  constant  abettor.  In  this  same 
letter  he  tells  of  a  vision  of  the  previous  Christmas,  when  the 
Lord  confronted  him  miraculously,  and  reminded  him  of  his 
vow  to  amass  treasure  enough  in  seven  years  to  undertake  his 
crusade  to  Jerusalem.  This  visible  Godhead  then  comforted  him 
with  the  assurance  that  his  divine  power  would  see  that  it  came 
to  pass.  "The  seven  years  you  were  to  await  have  not  yet 
passed.  Trust  in  me  and  all  will  be  right."  It  is  easy  to  point 
to  numerous  such  instances  in  Columbus's  career,  and  the  canon- 
izers  do  not  neglect  to  do  so,  as  evincing  the  sublime  confidence 
of  the  devoted  servant  of  the  Lord ;  but  one  can  hardly  put 
out  of  mind  the  concomitants  of  all  such  •confidence.  The  most 
that  we  can  allow  is  the  unaccountableness  of  a  much-vexed 
conscience. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

COLUMBUS    AGAIN   IN    SPAIN. 

1500-1502. 

IT  was  in  October,  1500,  after  a  voyage  of  less  discomfort 
than  usual,  that  the  ships  of  Villejo,  carrying  his  1500  Octo_ 
manacled  prisoners,  entered  the  harbor  of  Cadiz.  If  breaches" 
Bobadilla  had  precipitately  prejudged  his  chief  pris-  Cadlz< 
oner,  public  sentiment,  when  it  became  known  that  Columbus 
had  arrived  in  chains,  was  not  less  headlong  in  its  sympathetic 
revulsion.  Bobadilla  would  at  this  moment  have  stood  a  small 
chance  for  a  dispassionate  examination.  The  discoverer  of  the 
New  World  coming  back  from  it  a  degraded  prisoner  Public 
was  a  discordant  spectacle  in  the  public  mind,  filled  S^gSii* 
with  recollections  of  those  days  of  the  first  return  to  tlon< 
Palos,  when  a  new  range  had  been  given  to  man's  conceptions 
of  the  physical  world.  This  common  outburst  of  indignation 
showed,  as  many  times  before  and  since,  how  the  world's  sense 
of  justice  has  in  it  more  of  spirit  than  of  steady  discernment. 
The  hectic  flush  was  sure  to  pass,  —  as  it  did. 

It  was  while  on  his  voyage,  or  shortly  after  his  return,  that 
Columbus  wrote  the  letter  to   the  lady  of  the  Court 

47  Colum- 

usually  spoken  of  as  the  nurse  of  Prince  Juan,  which  bus's  letter 

^  t  to  the  nurse 

has  been    already  considered.        Before  the  proceed-  of  Prince 
ings  of  the  inquest  which  Bobadilla  had  forwarded  by 
th^  ship  were  sent  to  the  Court,  then  in  the  Alhambra,  Colum 
bus,  with  the  connivance  of  Martin,  the  captain  of  his  caravel, 
had  got  this  exculpatory  letter  off  by  a  special  messenger.     The 
lady  to  whom  it  was  addressed  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  Dona 
Juana  de  la  Torre,  an  intimate  companion  of  the  Queen,  with 
whom  the  Admiral's  two  sons,  as  pages  of  the  Queen,  had  been 
for  some  months  in  daily  relations.     The  text  of  this  letter 
has  long  been  known.     Las  Casas  copied  it  in   his  Historia. 


408  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Navarrete  gives  it  from  another  copy,  but  corrected  by  the  text 
preserved  at  Genoa;  while  Harrisse  tells  us  that  the  text  in 
Paris  contains  an  important  passage  not  in  that  at  Genoa. 

While  its  ejaculatory  arguments  are  not  well  calculated  to 
impose  on  the  sober  historian,  there  was  enough  of  fervor  laid 
against  its  background  of  distressing  humility  to  work  on  the 
sympathies  of  its  recipient,  and  of  the  Queen,  to  whom  it  was 
early  and  naturally  revealed.  "  I  have  now  reached  that  point 
that  there  is  no  man  so  vile,  but  thinks  it  his  right  to  insult 
me,"  was  the  language,  almost  at  its  opening,  which  met  their 
eyes.  The  further  reading  of  the  letter  brought  up  a  picture 
of  the  manacled  Admiral.  Very  likely  the  rumor  of  the  rising 
indignation  spreading  from  Cadiz  to  Seville,  and  from  Seville 
elsewhere,  as  well  as  the  letters  of  the  alcalde  of  Cadiz,  into 
whose  hands  Columbus  had  been  delivered,  and  of  Villejo,  who 
had  had  him  in  custody,  added  to  the  tumult  of  sensations 
mutually  shared  in  that  little  circle  of  the  monarchs  and  the 
The  sever-  Dona  Juana.  If  we  take  the  prompt  action  of  the 
cSu8m°busto  sovereigns  in  ordering  the  immediate  release  of  Co- 
be  released.  iumbus?  their  letter  of  sympathy  at  the  baseness  of 
his  treatment,  the  two  thousand  ducats  put  at  his  disposal  to 
prepare  for  a  visit  to  the  Court,  and  the  cordial  royal  sum 
mons  for  him  to  come,  —  if  all  these  be  taken  at  their  apparent 
Talue,  the  candid  observer  finds  himself  growing  distrustful  of 
Bobadilla's  justification  through  his  secret  instructions.  As  the 
observer  goes  on  in  the  story  and  notes  the  sequel,  he  is  more 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  sovereigns,  borne  on  the  rising  tide 
of  indignant  sympathy,  had  defended  themselves  at  the  expense 
of  their  commissioner.  We  may  never  know  the  truth. 

That  was  a  striking  scene  when  Columbus,  delivered  from  his 
1500.  De-  irons  on  the  17th  of  December,  1500,  held  his  first 
Rambus'  interview  with  the  Spanish  monarchs.  Oviedo  was 
at  court.  an  eyewitness  of  ft .  j^  we  fin(j  mOre  of  its  ac 
companiments  in  the  story  as  told  by  Herrera  than  in  the 
scant  narrative  of  the  Historie.  Humboldt  fancies  that  it  was 
the  Admiral's  son  who  wrote  it.  The  author  of  that  book  had 
no  heart  to  record  at  much  length  the  professions  of  regret 
on  the  part  of  the  King,  since  they  were  not  easily  reconcil 
able  with  what,  in  that  writer's  judgment,  would  have  been 
the  honorable  reception  of  Bobadilla  and  Roldan,  had  they 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  409 

escaped  the  fate  of  the  tempests  which  later  overwhelmed  them. 
When  the  first  warmth  of  Columbus's  reception  had  subsided, 
there  would  have  been  no  reason  to  suspect  that  those  absent 
servants  of  the  Crown  would  have  been  denied  a  suitable 
welcome. 

Herrera  tells  us  of  the  touching  character  of  this  interview  of 
December  17  ;  how  the  Queen  burst  into  tears,  and  the  emo 
tional  Admiral  cast  himself  on  the  ground  at  her  feet.  When 
Columbus  could  speak,  he  began  to  recall  the  reasons  for  which 
he  had  been  imprisoned,  and  rehearsed  them  with  humble  and 
exculpatory  professions.  He  forgot  that  in  the  letter  which  so 
excited  their  sympathy  he  had  denied  that  he  knew  any  such 
reasons,  and  the  sovereigns  forgot  it  too.  The  meeting  had 
awakened  the  tenderer  parts  of  their  natures,  and  their  hearts 
went  out  to  him.  They  made  verbal  promises  of  largesses  and 
professions  of  restitution,  but  Harrisse  could  find  no  written 
expressions  of  this  kind,  till  in  the  instructions  of  March  14, 
1502,  when  they  expressed  their  directions  for  his  guidance 
during  his  next  voyage.  The  Admiral  grew  confident,  as  of  old, 
in  their  presence.  He  had  always  reached  a  coign  of  vantage 
in  his  personal  intercourse  with  the  Queen.  He  had  evidently 
not  lost  that  power.  He  began  to  picture  his  return  to  Santo 
Domingo  with  the  triumph  that  he  now  enjoyed.  It  was  a  hol 
low  hope.  He  was  never  again  to  be  Viceroy  of  the  Indies. 

The   disorders  in  Espanola  were  but  a  part  of  the  reasons 
why    it   was    now  decided    to    suspend    the  patented 
rights  of  the  Admiral,  if  not  permanently  to  deny  the  suspended 
further  exercise   of   them.      We  have   seen  how  the 
government  had  committed  itself  to  other  discoveries,  profiting, 
as    it  did,  by    the    maps  which    Columbus   had    sent  b#ck    to 
Spain.     These  discoveries  were  a  new  source  of  tribute  which 
could  not  be  neglected.     Rival  nations  too  were  alert,  and  ships 
of  the  Portuguese  and  of  the  English  had  been  found  prowling 
about  within  the  unquestioned  limits  allowed  to  Spain  by  the 
new  treaty  line  of  Tordesillas.     At  the  north  and  at  Ofcher  ex_ 
the  south  these  same  powers  were  pushing  their  search,   American 
to  see  if  perchance  portions  of  the  new  regions  could  wafcers- 
not  be  found  to  project  so  far  east  as  to  bring  them  on   the 
Portuguese  side  of  that  same  line.     Portugal  had  al-  Portuguese 
ready  claimed  that  Cabral  had  found  such  territory  claims- 


410  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

under  the  equator  and  south  of  it.  An  eastward  projection  of 
Brazil  at  the  south,  twenty  degrees  and  more,  is  very  common 
in  the  contemporary  Portuguese  maps. 

On  the  13th  of  May,  1501,  a  new  Portuguese  fleet  of  three 

ships,  under  the  command  of  Gon^alo  Coelho,  sailed 
is.  boeiho's  from  Lisbon  to  develop  the  coast  of  the  southern 

Vera  Cruz,  as  South  America  was  now  called,  and  to 
see  if  a  way  could  be  found  through  it  to  the  Moluccas.  In 
June,  the  fleet,  while  at  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands,  met  Cabral 
with  his  vessels  on  their  return  from  India.  Here  it  was  that 
Cabral's  interpreter,  Gasparo,  communicated  the  particulars 
of  Cabral's  discovery  to  Vespucius,  who  was,  as  seems  pretty 
clear,  though  by  no  means  certain,  on  board  this  outward-bound 
WasVes  fleet-  A  letter  exists,  brought  to  light  by  Count 
ciusonthis  Baldelli  Boni,  not,  however,  in  the  hand  of  Yespucius, 

in  which  the  writer,  under  date  of  June  4,  gave  the 
results  of  his  note-takings  with  Cabral  to  Pier  Francisco  de 
Medici.  Varnhagen  is  in  some  doubt  about  the  genuineness  of 
this  document.  Indeed,  the  historian,  if  he  weighs  all  the  testi 
mony  that  has  been  adduced  for  and  against  the  participancy 
of  Vespucius  in  this  voyage,  can  hardly  be  quite  sure  that  the 
Florentine  was  aboard  at  all,  and  Santarem  is  confident  he  was 
not.  Navarrete  thinks  he  was  perhaps  there  in  some  subordi 
nate  capachVv.  Humboldt  is  staggered  at  the  profession  of  Ves 
pucius  in  still  keeping  the  Great  Bear  above  the  horizon  at  32° 
south,  since  it  is  lost  after  reaching  26°. 

With  all  this  doubt,  we  have  got  to  make  something  out  of 
another  letter,  which  in  the  published  copy  purports  to  have 
been  written  in  1503  about  this  voyage  by  Vespucius  himself, 
and  from  it  we  learn  that  his  ship  had  struck  the  coast  at  Cape 
St.  Roque,  on  August  17,  1501.  The  discoverers  reached  and 
named  Cape  St.  Augustine  on  August  28.  On  November  1, 
they  were  at  Bahia.  By  the  3d  of  April,  1502,  they  had 
reached  the  latitude  of  52°  south,  when,  driven  off  the  coast  in 
a  severe  gale,  they  made  apparently  the  island  of  Georgia, 
whence  they  stood  over  to  Africa,  and  reached  Lisbon  on  Sep 
tember,  7,  1502.  By  what  name  Vespucius  called  this  South 
American  coast  we  do  not  know,  for  his  original  Italian  text  is 
lost,  but  the  Mundns  Novus  of  the  Latin  paraphrase  or  version 
raised  a  feeling  of  expectancy  that  something  new  had  really 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  411 


qixc  t  no  110  rnudo  opr  w  *  t  mpcfio  fercmfiinu 


uo  vrtpunno  ^urftio  petrtoem&ido  Snlute  plurimS  Mat 
Upmoub^CHcbuc  farto  ampk  tibi  fcnpft  c^rtftmi  mcoabno 
w$illi3rc£iombi>qttao  ?clafle/?impcnlfe.7  mandate  iftiu$ 


noufimunt>n  nppdlare  licet  C^u^oo  apu^ 

ib9  fitnoutffima  rcc.f  tcmbcc 
cicccOit.cfl.aio^maioi  pare  fcicanplmiUn* 


b.ibitabiic  mulrio  r^ntl^  negaucrHt  Sc^  bone  co?  opmton  c  ctle  falfn^ 
sr  vmtnri  omo  ?miriam:bce  HIM  pltniw  nmiigatio  ^clarauit:ctl  in  pti 


Itb^^bitnrS.^nortrnm  europamftuHttnm  vcl  Zlfhc^m  lup  acr2 


^5  tdmoptimoreccfftmti^ab  Ol^nppo  m&>3tepfato  rcgecfi 
trit^  nauib^  at>  inquirattas  nouao  regfoncd  tf9  awllra  Ui 

^intimcnftb9  ?  tincttf  cr  aittigau  tmuo  ^ib  tneriotl  Cutuo  nmiignt&io  ot 
uotnhocft  tlauigcitionol^ifuttu  mfulacfoztutwtad.flc  oUmMctid 

ac  chmntc.titi 


ilia  manDtn&i  graMb9  qwamioibaimmtr  ii  rcm^(jm5onnm  a  Unea  es 


tco  vcrfno  antartiairaparOperj^xctocnr^infUirtmuo  p  mtum.qw. 
Uutnirnud  Matt  a  bicqua  racftlmiis  a  t»icto  ptomonroiio  ^ud  nicnr 


3n«i  flfitmariot»aftltjitcqmb  paflifucrimue 
co:gi3inc&mo5afuftum€rimwo4burq3  anrtiitib^  aimilabottiumuo 
cnmmntionlco:Grdtnqno,qtti  mutorttrcrtictpmcnta  optiiitenorfit 
an  fi  finti 


phuiU.tonirrmstco 

MUNDUS  NOVUS,  first  page. 


412  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

been  found,  distinct  from  the  spicy  East.  Varnhagen  is  con- 
vmced  that  Yespucius,  different  from  Columbus,  had 
awakened  to  the  conception  of  an  absolutely  new 
quarter  of  the  earth.  There  is  little  ground  for  the 
belief,  however,  in  its  full  extent  and  confidence.  The  little 
tract  had  in  it  the  elements  of  popularity,  and  in  1504  and  1505 
the  German  and  French  presses  gave  it  currency  in  several  edi 
tions  in  the  Latin  tongue,  whence  it  was  turned  into  Italian, 
German,  and  Dutch,  spreading  through  Europe  the  fame  of 
Vespucius.  We  trace  to  this  voyage  the  origin  of  the  nomen 
clature  of  the  coast  of  the  South  American  continent  which  then 
grew  up,  and  is  represented  in  the  earlier  maps,  like  that  of 
Lorenz  Fries,  for  instance,  in  1504. 

A  letter  dated  August  12,  1507,  preserved  in  Tritemius's 
Epistolarum  familiarum  libri  duo  (1536),  has  been  thought  to 
refer  to  a  printed  map  which  showed  the  discoveries 
of  vespu-      of  Vespucius  down  to  10°  south.     This  map  is  un 
known,  apparently,  as  the  particulars  given  concern 
ing  it  do  not  agree  with  the  map  of  Ruysch,  the  only  one,  so 
far  as  known,  to  antedate  that  epistle.     It  is  possibly  the  miss 
ing  map  which  Walclseemiiller  is  thought  to  have  first  made, 
and  which  became  the  prototype  of  the  recognized  Waldsee- 
miiller  map  of  the  Ptolemy  of  1513,  and  was  possibly  the  one 
from  which  the  Cantino  map,  yet  to  be  described,  was 
early  perfected  in  other  parts  than  those  of  the  Cortereal 

discoveries.  This  anterior  map  may  have  been  merely 
an  early  state  of  the  plate,  and  Lelewel  gives  reasons  for  be 
lieving  that  early  impressions  of  this  map  were  in  the  market  in 
1507. 

Thus  while  Columbus  was  nurturing  his  deferred  hopes,  neg 
lected  and  poor,  and  awaiting  what  after  all  was  but 
and  vespu-  a  tantalizing  revival  of  royal  interest,  the  rival  Portu 
guese,  acting  most  probably  under  the  influences  of 
Columbus's  own  countryman,  this  Florentine,  were  stretching 
farther  towards  the  true  western  route  to  the  Moluccas  than  the 
Admiral  had  any  conception  of.  Vespucius  was  also  at  the 
same  time  unwittingly  asserting  claims  which  should  in  the  end 
rob  the  Great  Discoverer  of  the  meed  of  bestowing  his  name  on 
the  new  continent  which  he  had  just  as  unwittingly  discovered. 
The  contrast  is  of  the  same  strange  impressiveness  which 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN. 


413 


marks  so  many  of  the  improbable  turns  in  the  career  of  Co 
lumbus. 


Meanwhile,  what  was  going  on  in  the  north,  where  Portugal 
was  pushing  her  discoveries  in  the  region  already  explored  by 
Cabot  ?     The  Spaniards  had  been  dilatory  here.    The 
monarchs,  May  6,  1500,  while  they  were  distracted  ish  purposes 
with  the  reports  of  the  disquietude  of  Espanola,  had 
turned  their  attention  in  this  direction,  and  had  thought  of 
sending  ships  into  the  seas  which  "  Sebastian  Cabot  had  dis 
covered."     They  had  done  nothing,  however,  though  Navarrete 
finds  that  explorations  thitherward,  under  Juan  Dornelos  and 
Ojeda,  had  been  planned. 


.59°  20 


Quest  de  Paris 


57°2G-, 


STRAITS  OF  BELLE  ISLE,   SHOWING   SITE  OF  EARLY  NORMAN  FISHING 
STATION  AT  BRADORE.    [After  Reclus's  L'Amerique.'] 

If  we  may  believe  some  of  the  accounts  of  explorations  this 
way  on  the  part  of  the  Bretons   and  Normans,  they 

IIP  -i     -I  i  TI-I-T*  i        T     i  Bretons  and 

had  founded  a  settlement  called  Brest  on  the  babra-  Normans  at 

dor  coast,  just  within  the  Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  on  a 

bay  now  called  Bradore,  as  early  as  1500.    It  is  said  that  traces 


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Ik 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  415 

of  their  houses  can  be  still  seen  there.  But  there  is  no  definite 
contemporary  record  of  their  exploits.  We  have  such  records 
of  the  Portuguese  movements,  though  not  through  Spanish 
sources.  Unaccountably,  Peter  Martyr,  who  kept  himself  alert 
for  all  such  impressions,  makes  no  reference  to  any  Portuguese 
voyages ;  and  it  is  only  when  we  come  down  to  Gomara 
(1551)  that  we  find  a  Spanish  writer  reverting  to  the  narra 
tives.  In  doing  so,  Gomara  makes,  at  the  same  time,  some  con 
fusion  in  the  chronology. 

Portugal  had  missed  a  great  opportunity  in  discrediting  Co 
lumbus,  but  she  had  succeeded  in  finding  one  in  Da 
Gama.  She  was  now  in  wait  for  a  chance  to  mate 
her  southern  route  with  a  western,  or  rather  with  a  north 
ern,  —  at  any  rate,  with  one  which  would  give  her  some  warrant 
for  efforts  not  openly  in  violation  of  the  negotiations  which  had 
followed  upon  the  Bull  of  Demarcation.  Opportunely,  word 
came  to  Lisbon  of  the  successes  of  the  Cabot  voyages,  and 
there  was  the  probability  of  islands  and  interjacent  passages  at 
the  north  very  like  the  geographical  configuration  which  the 
Spaniards  had  found  farther  south.  To  appearances,  Cabot  had 
met  with  such  land  on  the  Portuguese  side  of  the  division  line 
of  the  treaty  of  Tordesillas. 

King  Emanuel  had  a  vassal  in  Gaspar  Cortereai,  who  at  this 
time  was  a  man  about  fifty  years  old,  and  he  had  al-  1500  Gaspar 
ready  in  years  past  conducted  explorations  oceanward,   Cortereal- 
though  we  have  no  definite  knowledge  of  their  results.     It  has 
been  conjectured  that  Columbus  may  have  known  him ;    but 
there  is  nothing  to  make  this  certain.     At  any  rate,  there  was 
little  in  the  surroundings  of  Columbus  at  Espaiiola,  when  he 
was  subjected  to  chains  in  the  summer  of  1500,  to  remind  him 
of  any  northern  rivalry,  though  the  visits  of  Ojeda  and  Pinzon 
to  that  island  were  foreboding.     It  was  just  at  that  time  that 
Cortereai  sailed  away  from  Portugal  to   the   northwest.       He 
discovered  the  Terra  do  Labrador,  which  he  named  apparently 
because  he  thought  its  natives  would  increase  very  handily  the 
slave  labor  of   Portugal.      To    follow  up   this    quest,    Gaspar 
sailed  again  with  three  ships,  May  15,  1501,  which  is 
the  date  given  by  Damian  de  Goes.    Harrisse  is  not  so   par  Corte- 
sure,  but  finds  that  Gaspar  was  still  in  port  April  21, 
1501.     Cortereai  ran  a  course  a  little  more  to  the  west,  and 


416 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


came  to  a  coast,  two  thousand  miles  away,  as  was  reckoned,  and 
skirted  it  without  finding  any  end.  He  decided  from  the  vol 
ume  of  its  rivers,  that  it  was  probably  a  continental  area.  The 
voyagers  found  in  the  hands  of  some  natives  whom  they  saw 
a  broken  sword  and  two  silver  earrings,  evidently  of  Italian 

Qw'lfancc  ccritc  et  sijncc  far  Miyucl 
CoTte-ReaU  Mahjaje  j  lout  1501 


MS.    OF  MIGUEL   CORTEREAL. 
[From  Harrisse's  Cortereal,  Postscriptum."} 

make.  The  natural  inference  is  that  they  had  fallen  among 
tribes  which  Cabot  had  encountered  on  his  second  voyage,  if 
indeed  these  relics  did  not  represent  earlier  visitors.  Cortereal 
also  found  in  a  high  latitude  a  country  which  he  called  Terra 
Verde.  Two  of  the  vessels  returned  safely,  bringing  home 
some  of  the  natives,  and  the  capture  of  such,  to  make  good 
the  name  bestowed  during  the  previous  voyage,  seems  to  have 
been  the  principal  aim  of  the  explorers.  The  third  ship,  with 
Gaspar  on  board,  was  never  afterwards  heard  of. 

It  so  happened  that  Pasqualigo,  the  Venetian  ambassador  in 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  417 

Lisbon,  made  record  of  the  return  of  the  first  of  these  vessels,  in 
a  letter  which  he  wrote  from  Lisbon,  October  19,  1501 ;  and  it 
is  from  this,  which  made  part  of  the  well-known  Paesi  novamente 
retrovati  (Vicenza,  1507),  that  we  derive  what  little  knowledge 
we  have  of  these  voyages.     The  reports  have  fortunately  been 
supplemented  by  Harrisse  in  a  dispatch  dated  October  17,  1501, 
which  he  has  produced  from  the  archives  of  Modena, 
in  which  one  Alberto  Cantino  tells  how  he  heard  the   sources  on 
captain  of   the  vessel  which  arrived   second  tell  the  tereai°voy- 
story  to   the    king.      This   dispatch  to   the    Duke    of 
Ferrara  was  followed  by  a  map  showing  the  new  discoveries. 
This  cartographical  record  had  been  known  for  some  years  be 
fore  it  was  reproduced  by  Harrisse  on  a  large  scale.     It  is  ap 
parent  from  this  that  the  discoverers  believed,  or  feigned  to 
believe,  that  the  new-found  regions  lay  westward  from  Ireland 
half-way  to    the    American   coasts.       The    evidence   that   they 
feigned  to  believe  rather  than  that  they  knew  these  lands  to  be 
east  of  their  limitary  line  may  not  be  found ;  but  it  was  proba 
bly   some    such  doubt  of    their  honesty   which  induced  Robert 
Thome,  of  Bristol,  to  speak  of  the  purpose  which  the  Portuguese 
had  in  falsifying  their  maps.       Nor  were  the   frauds   portuguese 
confined  to  maps.    Translations  were  distorted  and  nar-  £eSgfto-U" 
ratives  perverted.    Biddle,  in  his  Life  of  Cabot,  points  formation- 
out  a  marked  instance  of  this,  where  the  simple  language  of 
Pasqualigo  is  twisted    so  as    to  convey  the    impression    of    a 
long  acquaintance  of  the  natives  with  Italian  commodities,  as 
proving  that  the  Italians  had  formerly  visited  the  region,  —  a 
hint  which  Biddle  supposed  the  Zeni  narrative  at  a  later  date 
was  contrived  to  sustain,  so  as  to  deceive  many  writers.     We 
shall  soon  revert  to  this  Cantino  map. 

The  voyage  which  Miguel  Cortereal  is  known  to  have  under- 
taken  in  the  summer  of  1501,  which  has  been  con-  1501  Miguel 
nected  with  this  series  of  northwest  voyages,  is  held  CortereaL 
by  Harrisse,  in  his  revised  opinions,  not  to  have  been  to  the 
New  World  at  all,  but  to  have  been  conducted  against  the  Grand 
Turk,  and  Cortereal  returned  from  it  on  November  4,  1501. 

To  search  for  the  missing  Gaspar  Cortereal,  Miguel,  on  May 
10,  1502,  again  sailed  to  the  northwest  with  two  or 
three  ships.     They  found  the   same  coast  as  before,   guei'corte- 
searched  it  without  success,  and  returned  again  with- 


418  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

out  a  leader ;  for  Miguel's  ship  missed  the  others  at  a  rendez 
vous  and  was  never  again  heard  of. 

The  endeavors  of  the  Portuguese  in  this  direction  did  not 
end  here ;  and  the  region  thus  brought  by  them  to  the  atten 
tion  of  the  cartographer  soon  acquired  in  their  maps  the  name 
Terre  des  °^  TeTre,  des  Cortereal,  or  Terra  dos  Corte  reals,  or, 
Cortereai.  ag  Latinized  by  Sylvanus,  Regalis  Domus.  There  is 
little,  however,  to  connect  these  earliest  ventures  with  later  his 
tory,  except  perhaps  that  from  their  experiences  it  is  that  a 
straits  of  vague  cartographical  conception  of  the  fabled  Straits 
Aman.  Q£  ^njan  confronts  us  in  many  of  the  maps  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  No  one  has  made  it  quite 
sure  whence  the  appellation  or  even  the  idea  of  such  a  strait 
came.  By  some  it  has  been  thought  to  have  grown  out  of  Marco 
Polo's  Ania,  which  was  conceived  to  be  in  the  north.  By  Navar- 
rete,  Humboldt,  and  others  it  has  been  made  to  grow  in  some 
way  out  of  these  Cortereal  voyages,  and  Humboldt  supposes  that 
the  entrance  to  Hudson  Bay,  under  60°  north  latitude,  was 
thought  at  that  time  to  lead  to  some  sort  of  a  transcontinental 
passage,  going  it  is  hardly  known  where.  The  name  does  not 
seem  at  first  to  have  been  magnified  into  all  its  later  associations 
of  a  kingdom,  or  "  regnum  "  of  Anian,  as  the  Latin  nomen 
clature  then  had  it.  Its  great  city  of  Quivira  did  not  appear 
till  some  time  after  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
then  it  was  not  always  quite  certain  to  the  cosmographical  mind 
whether  all  this  magnificence  might  not  better  be  placed  on  the 
Asiatic  side  of  such  a  strait.  This  imaginary  channel  was 
made  for  a  long  period  to  run  along  the  parallels  of  latitudes 
somewhere  in  the  northern  regions  of  the  New  World,  after 
America  had  begun  generally  to  have  its  independent  existence 
recognized,  south  of  the  Arctic  regions  at  least.  The  next  stage 
of  the  belief  violently  changed  the  course  of  the  straits  across 
the  parallels,  prefiguring  the  later  discovered  Bering's  Straits  ; 
and  this  is  made  prominent  in  maps  of  Zalterius  (1566)  and 
Mercator  (1569),  and  in  the  maps  of  those  who  copied  these 
masters. 

It  took  thirty  years  for  the  Cortereal  discoveries  to  work 
Spanish  their  way  into  the  conceptions  of  the  Spanish  map- 
maps>  makers.  Whether  this  dilatory  belief  came  from  lack 

of  information,  obliviousness,  or  simply  from  an  heroic  persist- 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN. 


419 


ence  in  ignoring  what  was  not  their  boast,  is  a  question  to  be 
decided  through  an  estimate  of  the  Spanish  character.  There 
seems,  however,  to  have  been  interest  enough  on  the  part  of  a 
single  Italian  noble  to  seek  information  at  once,  as  we  see  from 
the  Cantino  map ;  but  the  knowledge  was  not,  nevertheless, 


i  \  OCEANUS  OGC/DENTALIS 


HAS  ANTILHAS 


TERRA 
DfLRrY 

"       DE 

PORTUGlMt 


THE   CANTINO  MAP. 


apparently  a  matter  of  such  interest  but  it  could  escape  Ruysch 
in  1508.  Not  till  Sylvanus  issued  his  edition  of  Ma  gofthe 
Ptolemy,  in  1511,  did  any  signs  of  these  Cortereal  cortereai 


discoveries. 


expeditions  appear  on  an  engraved  map. 

Only  a  few  years  have  passed  since  students  of  these  carto 
graphical  fields  were  first  allowed  free  study  of  this  The  Cantino 
Cantino  map.  It  is,  after  La  Cosa,  the  most  inter-  map>  1502' 


420  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

esting  of  all  the  early  maps  of  the  American  coast  as  its  con 
figuration  had  grown  to  be  comprehended  in  the  ten  years  which 
followed  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus. 

There  are  three  special  points  of  interest  in  this  chart.  The 
The  corte-  nrs*  *s  tne  evident  purpose  of  the  maker,  when  sending 
eries^lTof  **  (1502)  to  his  correspondent  in  Italy,  to  render  it 
dema?cea-°f  clear  that  tne  coasts  which  the  Portuguese  had  tracked 

in  the  northwest  Atlantic  were  sufficiently  protuber 
ant  towards  the  rising  sun  to  throw  them  on  the  Portuguese  side 
of  the  revised  line  of  demarcation.  It  is  by  no  means  certain, 
however,  in  doing  so,  that  they  pretended  their  discoveries  to 
have  been  other  than  neighboring  to  Asia,  since  a  peninsula 
north  of  these  regions  is  called  a  "  point  of  Asia."  The  ordi 
nary  belief  of  geographers  at  that  time  was  that  our  modern 
Greenland  was  an  extension  of  northern  Europe.  So  it  does 

not  seem  altogether  certain  that  the   Terra  Verde  of 

Terra  Verde.     _  _  ,        ,,,  ,         .1         •      i       •  i      •, 

Cortereal  can  be  held  to  be  identical  with  its  name 
sake  of  the  Sagas. 

The  second  point  of  interest  is  what  seems  to  be  the  connec 
tion  between  this  map  and  those  which  had  emanated 
from  the  results  of  the  Columbus  voyages,  directly 
or  indirectly.  Columbus  had  made  a  chart  of  his 
track  through  the  Gulf  of  Paria,  and  had  sent  it  to 
Spain,  and  Ojeda  had  coursed  the  same  region  by  it.  We 
know  from  a  letter  of  Angelo  Trivigiano,  the  secretary  of  the 
Venetian  ambassador  in  Spain,  dated  at  Granada,  August  21, 
1501,  and  addressed  to  Domenico  Malipiero,  that  at  that 
time  Columbus,  who  had  ingratiated  himself  with  the  writer  of 
Columbus  the  letter,  was  living  without  money,  in  great  want, 
in  want.  an(j  ou^  of  favor  with  the  sovereigns.  This  letter- 
writer  then  speaks  of  his  intercession  with  Peter  Martyr  to 
have  copies  of  his  narrative  of  the  voyages  of  Columbus  made, 
and  of  his  pleading  with  Columbus  himself  to  have  transcripts 
of  his  own  letters  to  his  sovereigns  given  to  him,  as  well  as  a 
map  of  the  new  discoveries  from  the  Admiral's  own  charts, 
which  he  then  had  with  him  in  Granada. 

There  are  three  letters  of  Trivigiano,  but  the  originals  are 
not  known.  Foscarini  in  1752  used  them  in  his  Delia  Lette- 
ratura  veneziana,  as  found  in  the  library  of  Jacopo  Soranzo  ; 
but  both  these  originals  and  Foscarini's  copies  have  eluded  the 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  421 

search  of  Harrisse,  who  gives  them  as  printed  or  abstracted  by 
Zurla. 

What  we  have  is  not  supposed  to  be  the  entire  text,  and  we 
may  well  regret  the  loss  of  the  rest.  Trivigiano  says  of  the 
map  that  he  expected  it  to  be  extremely  well  executed  on  a 
large  scale,  giving  ample  details  of  the  country  which  had  been 
discovered.  He  refers  to  the  delays  incident  to  sending  to 
Palos  to  have  it  made,  because  persons  capable  of  such  work 
could  only  be  found  there. 

No  such  copy  as  that  made  for  Malipiero  is  now  known. 
Harrisse  thinks  that  if  it  is  ever  discovered  it  will  be  very  like 
the  Cantino  map,  with  the  Cortereal  discoveries  left  out.  This 
same  commentator  also  points  out  that  there  are  certainly  indi 
cations  in  the  Cantino  map  that  the  maker  of  it,  in  drafting 
the  region  about  the  Gulf  of  Paria  at  least,  worked  either  from 
Columbus' s  map  or  from  some  copy  of  it,  for  his  information 
seems  to  be  more  correct  than  that  which  La  Cosa  followed. 

The  third  point  of  interest  in  this  Cantino  map,  and  one 
which  has  given  rise  to  opposing  views,  respects  that 

,.?.-.  ...  4.1,       .c    li  1,1     What  is  the 

coast   which  is  drawn  in  it  north  or  the  completed  coast  north 
Cuba,  and  which  at  first  glance  is  taken  with  little  ques 
tion  for  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States  from  Florida 
up.     Is  it  such  ?     Did  the  cartographers  of  that  time  have  any 
thing  more  than  conjecture  by  which  to  run  such  a  coast  line  ? 

A  letter  of  Pasqualigo,  dated  at  Lisbon,  October  18,  1501, 
and  found  by  Von  Ranke  at  Venice  in  the  diary  of  Marino  Sa- 
nuto,  —  a  running  record  of  events,  which  begins  in  1496,  —  has 
been  interpreted  by  Humboldt  as  signifying  that  at  this  time 
it  was  known  among  the  Portuguese  observers  of  the  mari 
time  reports  that  a  continental  stretch  of  coast  connected  the 
Spanish  discoveries  in  the  Antilles  with  those  of  the  Portuguese 
at  the  north.  Harrisse  questions  this  interpretation,  and  con 
siders  that  what  Humboldt  thinks  knowledge  was  simply  a 
tentative  conjecture-.  If  this  knowledge  is  represented  in  the 
Cantino  map,  there  is  certainly  too  great  remoteness  in  the 
regions  of  the  Cortereal  discoveries  to  form  such  a  connection. 
It  is  of  course  possible  that  the  map  is  a  falsification  in  this 
respect,  to  make  the  line  of  demarcation  serve  the  Portuguese 
interests,  and  such  falsification  is  by  no  means  improbable. 

Tt  will  be  remembered  that  the  La  Cosa  map  showed  no  hesi- 


422  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

tancy  in  placing  the  Antilles  on  the  coast  of  Asia,  and  put 
the  region  of  the  Cabot  landfall  on  the  coast  of  Cathay.  Con 
sequently,  the  difference  between  the  La  Cosa  and  the  Cantino 
The  Cantino  maps  for  this  region  north  of  Cuba  is  phenomenal. 
mapsLat  va!*  In  tnese  two  or  three  years  (1500-1502),  something 
had  come  to  pass  which  seemed  to  raise  the  suspicion 
that  this  northern  continental  line  might  possibly  not  be  Asi 
atic  after  all,  or  at  least  it  might  not  have  the  trend  or  contour 
which  had  before  been  given  it  on  the  Asiatic  theory.  It  is  an 
interesting  question  from  whom  this  information  could  have 
come.  Was  this  coast  in  the  Cantino  map  indeed  not  North 
American,  but  the  coast  of  Yucatan,  misplaced,  as  one  conjec 
ture  has  been  ?  But  this  involves  a  recognition  of  some  voy 
age  on  the  Yucatan  coast  of  which  we  have  no  record.  Was 
it  the  result  of  one  of  the  voyages  of  Vespucius,  and  was  Varn- 
hagen  right  in  tracking  that  navigator  up  the  east  Florida 
shore  ?  Was  it  drawn  by  some  unauthorized  Spanish  mariners, 
who  were  —  we  know  Columbus  complained  of  such  —  invad 
ing  his  vested  rights,  or  perhaps  by  some  of  those  to  whom  he 
was  finally  induced  to  concede  the  privilege  of  exploration? 
Was  it  found  by  some  English  explorer  who  answers  the  de 
scription  of  Ojeda  in  1501,  when  he  complains  that  people  of 
this  nation  had  been  in  these  regions  some  years  before  ?  Was 
it  the  discovery  of  some  of  those  against  whom  a  royal  prohibi 
tion  of  discovery  was  issued  by  the  Catholic  kings,  September 
3,  1501  ?  Was  it  anything  more  than  the  result  of  some  vague 
information  from  the  Lucayan  Indians,  aided  by  a  sprinkling 
of  supposable  names,  respecting  a  land  called  Bimini  lying  there 
away  ?  Eight  or  nine  years  later,  Peter  Martyr,  in 
the  map  which  he  published  in  1511,  seems  to  have 
thought  so,  and  certain  stories  of  a  fountain  of  youth  in  regions 
lying  in  that  direction  were  already  prevalent,  as  Martyr  also 
shows  us.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  we  have  no  Spanish  map 
between  the  making  of  La  Cosa's  in  1500  and  this  one  of 
Peter  Martyr  in  1511,  to  indicate  any  Spanish  acquaintance 
with  such  a  northern  coast. 

This  map  of  1511,  if  it  is  honest  enough  to  show  what  the 
Spanish  government  knew  of  Florida,  is  indicative  of 
but  the  vaguest  information,  and  its  divulgence  of 
that  coast  may,  in  Brevoort's  opinion,  account  for  the 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  423 

rarity  of  the  chart,  in  view  of  the  determination  of  Spain  to 
keep  control  as  far  as  she  could  of  all  cartographical  records  of 
what  her  explorers  found  out. 

It  is  evident,  if  we  accept  the  theory  of  this  Cantino  map 
showing  the  coast  of  the  United  States,  that  we  have  in  it  a  de 
lineation  nearer  the  source  by  several  years  than  those  which 
modern  students  have  longer  known  in  the  Waldseemiiller  map 
of  1508,  the  Stobnicza  map  of  1512,  the  Reisch  map  of  1515, 
and  the  so-called  Admiral's  map  of  1513,  —  all  which  arose, 
it  is  very  clear,  from  much  the  same  source  as  this  of  Cantino. 
What  is  that  source  ?  There  are  some  things  that  seem  to 
indicate  that  this  source  was  the  description  of  Portuguese 
rather  than  of  other  seamen.  This  belief  falls  in  with  what  we 
know  of  the  cordial  relations  of  Portugal  and  Duke  Rene,  under 
whose  auspices  Waldseemiiller  at  least  worked.  Thus  it  would 
seem  that  while  Spain  was  impeding  cartographical  knowledge 
through  the  rest  of  Europe,  Portugal  was  so  assiduously  helping 
it  that  for  many  years  the  Ptolemies  and  other  central  and 
southern  European  publications  were  making  known  the  cos- 
mographical  ideas  which  originated  in  Portugal. 

It  has  been  already  said  that  Humboldt  in  his  Examen  Cri 
tique  (iv.  262)  refers  to  a  letter  which  indicates  that  in  Octo 
ber,  1501,  the  Portuguese  had  already  learned,  or  it  may  be  only 
conjectured,  that  the  coast  from  the  region  of  the  Antilles  ran 
uninterruptedly  north  till  it  united  with  the  snowy  shores  of  the 
northern  discoveries.  This,  then,  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was 
a  Portuguese  source  that  supplied  conjecture,  if  not  fact,  to  the 
maker  of  the  Cantino  map.  Harrisse's  solution  of  this  matter, 
as  also  mentioned  already,  is  that  the  letter  found  by  Yon  Ranke 
and  the  letter  which  we  know  Pasqualigo  sent  to  Venice  about 
the  Cortereal  voyages  were  one  and  the  same,  and  that  it  was 
rather  conjecture  than  fact  that  the  Portuguese  possessed  at 
this  time. 

The  obvious  difficulty  in  the  cartographical  problem  for  the 
Portuguese  was,  as  has  been  said,  to  make  it  appear  that  they 
were  not  disregarding  the  agreement  at  Tordesillas  while  they 
were  securing  a  region  for  sovereignty.  We  have  already  said 
that  this  accounts  for  the  extreme  eastern  position  found  in 
the  Cantino  and  the  cognate  maps  of  the  Newfoundland  region, 
which,  as  thus  drawn,  it  was  not  easy  to  connect  with  the  coast 


424  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

line  of  eastern  Florida.  Hence  the  open  sea-gap  which  exists 
between  them  in  the  maps,  while  the  evidence  of  the  descrip 
tions  would  make  the  coast  line  continuous. 

We  have  thus  suggested  possible  solutions  of  this  continen 
tal  shore  above  Florida.  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  truth 
is  far  from  patent,  and  we  must  yet  wait  perhaps  a  long  time 
before  we  discover,  if  indeed  we  ever  do,  to  whom  this  mapping 
of  the  coast,  as  shown  in  the  Cantino  map,  was  due. 

There  are  evidences  other  than  those  of  this  Cantino  map 
was  the  *na*  *ne  Portuguese  were  in  this  Floridian  region  in 
COM?*  *ne  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  Lelewel 
tried  to  work  out  their  discoveries  from  scattered  data, 
in  a  conjectural  map,  which  he  marks  1501-1504,  and  which 
resembles  the  Ptolemy  map  of  1513.  The  bringing  forward  of 
the  Cantino  map  confirms  much  of  the  supposed  cartography. 

There  is  one  theory  which  to  some  minds  gives  a  very  easy 
solution  of  this  problem,  without  requiring  belief  in  any  know 
ledge,  clandestine  or  public,  of  such  a  land. 

Brevoort  in  his  Verrazano  had  already  been  inclined  to  the 
view  later  emphasized  by  "Stevens  in  his  Schbner,  and  reiterated 
by  Coote  in  his  editorial  revision  of  that  posthumous  work. 

Stevens  is  content  to  allow  Ocampo,  in  1508,  to  have  been 
the  earliest  probable  discoverer  of  this  coast,  and  Ponce  de 
Leon  as  the  original  attested  finder  in  1513. 

The  Stevens  theory  is  that  this  seeming  Florida  arose  from  a 
TMB  Cantino  Portuguese  misconception  of  the  first  two  voyages  of 
pSSft»ddu"  Columbus,  by  which  two  regions  were  thought  to  have 
Cuba.  been  coasted  instead  of  different  sides  of  the  same, 
and  that  what  others  consider  an  early  premonition  of  Florida 
and  the  upper  coasts  was  simply  a  duplicated  Cuba,  to  make 
good  the  Portuguese  conception.  It  is  not  explained  how  so 
strange  a  misconception  of  very  palpable  truths  could  have 
arisen,  or  how  a  coast  trending  north  and  south  so  far  could 
have  been  confounded  with  one  stretching  at  right  angles  to 
such  a  course  for  so  short  a  distance. 

Stevens  traces  the  influence  of  his  "  bogus  Cuba "  in  a 
long  series  of  maps  based  on  Portuguese  notions,  in  which  he 
names  those  of  Waldseemuller  (1513),  Stobnicza  (1512), 
Schoner  (1515, 1520),  Keisch  (1515),  Bordone  (1528),  Solinus 
(1520),  Friess  (1522),  and  Grynasus  (1532  —  made  probably 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  425 

earlier),  as  opposed  to  the  Spanish  and  more  truthful  view, 
which  is  expressed  by  Ruysch  (1507—8)  and  Peter  Martyr, 
(1511). 

It  is  a  proposition  not  to  be  dismissed  lightly  nor  accepted 
triumphantly  on  our  present  knowledge.  We  must  wait  for 
further  developments. 

The  fancy  that  this  coast  was  Asia  and  that  Cuba  was  Asia 
might,  indeed,  have  led  to  the  transfer  to  it  at  one  time  of  the 
names  which  Columbus  had  placed  along  the  north  coast  of  his 
supposed  peninsular  Cuba ;  but  that  proves  a  misplacement  of 
the  names,  and  not  a  creation  of  the  coast.  For  a  while  this 
continental  land  was  backed  up  on  the  maps  against  a  meridian 
scale,  which  hid  the  secret  of  its  western  limits,  and  left  it  a 
possible  segment  of  Asia.  Then  it  stood  out  alone  with  a  north 
and  southwestern  line,  but  with  Asia  beyond,  just  as  if  it  were 
no  part  of  it,  and  this  delineation  was  common  even  while  there 
was  a  division  of  geographical  belief  as  to  North  America  and 
Asia  being  one. 

The  fact  that  Cuba,  in  the  drafting  of  the  La  Cosa  and  Can- 
tino  maps,  is  represented  as  an  island  has  at  times  cubaanisi- 
been  held  to  signify  that  the  views  of  Columbus  re-  and- 
specting  its  peninsular  rather  than  its  insular  character  were  not 
wholly  shared  by  his  contemporaries.  That  foolish  act  by  which, 
under  penalty,  the  Admiral  forced  his  crew  to  swear  that  it  was 
a  part  of  the  main  might  well  imply  that  he  expected  his  asser 
tions  would  be  far  from  acceptable  to  other  cosmographers.  If 
Varnhagen's  opinion  as  to  the  track  of  Vespucius  in  his  voyage 
of  1497,  following  the  contour  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  be  ac 
cepted  as  knowledge  of  the  time,  the  insularity  of  Cuba  was  ne 
cessarily  proved  even  at  that  early  day ;  but  it  is  the  opinion 
of  Henry  Stevens,  as  has  been  already  shown,  that  the  green 
outline  of  the  western  parts  of  Cuba  in  La  Cosa's  chart  was 
3nly  the  conventional  way  of  expressing  an  uncertain  coast. 
Consequently  it  did  not  imply  insularity.  If  it  is  to  be  sup 
posed  that  the  Portuguese  had  a  similar  method  of  expressing 
uncertainties  of  coast,  they  did  not  employ  it  in  the  Cantino 
map,  and  Cuba  in  1502  is  unmistakably  an  island.  It  is,  more 
over,  sufficiently  like  the  Cuba  of  La  Cosa  to  show  it  was  drawn 
from  one  and  the  same  prototype.  If  the  maker  of  the  Cantino 
map  followed  La  Cosa,  or  a  copy  of  La  Cosa,  or  the  material 


426  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

from  which  La  Cosa  worked,  there  is  no  proof  that  he  ever 
suspected  the  peninsularity  of  Cuba. 

Columbus,  in  his  hours  of  neglect,  and  amid  his  unheeded 
Columbus  pleas  for  recognition,  during  these  two  grewsome 
it°oS°e"-  years  in  Spain,  may  never  have  comprehended  in 
Flotations.  tkeir  full  significance  these  active  efforts  of  the 
Portuguese  to  anticipate  his  own  hopes  of  a  western  passage 
beyond  the  Golden  Chersonesus ;  but  the  doings  of  Mendoza, 
Cristobal  Guerra,  and  other  fellow-subjects  of  Spain  were  not 
wholly  unknown  to  him. 

In  October,  1500,  and  before  Columbus  knew  just  what  his 
1500.  octo-  reception  in  Spain  was  going  to  be,  Rodrigo  de  Bas- 
tidas,  accompanied  by  La  Cosa  and  Vasco  Nunez 
Balboa,  sailed  from  Cadiz  on  an  expedition  that  had 
for  its  object  to  secure  to  the  Crown  one  quarter  of  the  profits, 
and  to  make  an  examination  of  the  coast  line  beyond  the  bay 
of  Venezuela,  in  order  that  it  might  be  made  sure  that  no 
channel  to  an  open  sea  lay  beyond.  The  two  caravels  followed 
the  shore  to  Nombre  de  Dios,  and  at  the  narrowest  part  of  the 
isthmus,  without  suspecting  their  nearness  to  the  longed-for 
sea,  the  navigators  turned  back.  Finding  their  vessels  unsea- 
worthy,  for  the  worms  had  riddled  their  bottoms,  they  sought 
a  harbor  in  Espanola,  near  which  their  vessels  foundered  after 
they  had  saved  a  part  of  their  lading.  A  little  later,  this  gave 
Bobadilla  a  chance  to  arrest  the  commander  for  illicit  trade 
with  the  natives.  This  transaction  was  nothing  more,  appar 
ently,  than  the  barter  of  trinkets  for  provisions,  as  he  was  lead 
ing  his  men  across  the  island  to  the  settlements. 

It  was  while  with  Bastidas,  in  1501-2,  that  La  Cosa  reports 
Portuguese  seeing  the  Portuguese  prowling  about  the  Caribbean 
f" tSr?  and  Mexican  waters,  seeking  for  a  passage  to  Calicut, 
gions.  j{.  was  whjie  on  a  mission  of  remonstrance  to  Lisbon 

that  La  Cosa  was  later  arrested  and  imprisoned,  and  remained 
till  August,  1504,  a  prisoner  in  Portugal. 

We  have  seen  that  in  1499  Ojeda  had  met  or  heard  of  Eng 
lish  vessels  on  tne  coast  of  Terra  Firma,  or  professed  that  he 
had.  The  Spanish  government,  suspecting  they  were  but  pre 
cursors  of  others  who  might  attempt  to  occupy  the  coast,  de 
termined  on  thwarting  such  purposes,  if  possible,  by  anticipating 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  427 

occupation.    Ojeda  was  given  the  power  to  lead  thither  a  colony, 
if  he  could  do  it  without  cost  to  the  Crown,  which  reserved 
a  due  share  of  his  profits.     He  obtained  the  assistance  of  Juan 
de  Vegara  and  Garcia  de  Ocampo,  and  with  this  back 
ing  he  sailed  with  four  ships  from  Cadiz  in  January,   uary.   oje- 
1502,  while    Columbus  was   preparing  his  own  little 
fleet  for  his  last  voyage.    It  was  a  venture,  however,  that  came 
to  naught.     The  natives,  under  ample  provocation,  proved  hos 
tile,  food  was  lacking,  the  leaders  quarreled,  and  the  partners  of 
Ojeda,  combining,  overpowered  (May,  1502)  their  leader,  and 
sent  him  a  prisoner  to  Espanola,  where  he  arrived  in  Septem 
ber,  1502. 

There  has  never  been  any  clear  definition  as  to  who  these 
Englishmen  were,  or  what  was  their  project,  during 

.    ,  ,  .     ,  .,  rpi  English  in 

these  earliest  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Ihere  the  west 
is  evidence  that  Henry  VII.  about  this  time  author 
ized  some  ventures  in  which  his  countrymen  were  joint  sharers 
with  the  Portuguese,  but  we  know  nothing  further  of  the 
regions  visited  than  that  the  Privy  Purse  expenses  show  how 
some  Bristol  men  received  a  gratuity  for  having  been  at  the 
"Newefounde  Launde."  There  is  also  a  vague  notion  to  be 
formed  from  an  old  entry  that  Sebastian  Cabot  himself  again 
visited  this  region  in  1503,  and  brought  home  three  of  the 
natives,  —  to  say  nothing  of  additional  even  vaguer  suspicions 
of  other  ventures  of  the  English  at  this  time. 

In  enumerating  the  ocean  movements  that  were  now  going  on, 
some  intimation  has  been  given  of  the  tiresome  expectancy  of 
something  better  which  was  intermittently  beguiling  the  spirits 
of  Columbus  during  the  eighteen  months  that  he  remained  in 
Spain.  It  is  necessary  to  trace  his  unhappy  life  in  some  detail, 
though  the  particulars  are  not  abundant. 

Ferdinand  had  not  been  unobservant  of  all  these  expedition 
ary  movements,  and  they  were  quite  as  threatening  to 
the    Spanish  supremacy   in    the    New  World  as   his 


1500-1502 

own  personal  defection  was  to  the  dejected  Admiral. 
It  had  become  very  clear  that  by  tying  his  own  hands,  as  he 
had  in  the  compact  which  Columbus  was  urging  to  have  ob 
served,  the  King  had  allowed  opportunities  to  pass  by  which  he 
could  profit  through  the  newly  aroused  enthusiasm  of  the  sea- 


428  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ports.  We  have  seen  that  he  had,  nevertheless,  through  Fon- 
seca  sanctioned  the  expeditions  of  Ojeda,  Pinzon,  and  others,  and 
had  notably  in  that  of  Nino  got  large  profits  for  the  exchequer. 
He  had  done  this  in  defiance  of  the  vested  rights  of  Columbus, 
and  there  is  little  doubt  that  to  bring  Columbus  into  disgrace 
by  the  loss  of  his  Admiral's  power  served  in  part  to  open  the 
field  of  discovery  more  as  Ferdinand  wished.  With  the  Viceroy 
dethroned  and  become  a  waiting  suitor,  there  was  lit- 
allows  other  tie  to  stay  Ferdinand's  ambition  in  sending;  out  other 

expeditions.  .  TT.  .  11,1,1.  n 

explorers.  His  experience  had  taught  him  to  allow 
no  stipulations  on  which  explorers  could  found  exorbitant  de 
mands  upon  the  booty  and  profit  of  the  ventures.  Anybody 
could  sail  westward  now,  and  there  was  no  longer  the  courage 
of  conviction  required  to  face  an  unknown  sea  and  find  an  oppo 
site  shore.  Columbus,  who  had  shown  the  way,  was  now  easily 
cast  off  as  a  useless  pilot. 

It  was  not  difficult  for  the  King  to  frame  excuses  when  Co 
lumbus  urged  his  reinstatement.  There  was  no  use  in  sending 
back  an  unpopular  viceroy  before  the  people  of  the  colony 
had  been  quieted.  Give  them  time.  It  might  be  seasonable 
enough  to  send  to  them  their  old  master  when  they  had  forgot 
ten  their  misfortunes  under  him.  Perhaps  a  better  man  than 
Bobadilla  could  be  found  to  still  the  commotions,  and  if  so  he 
might  be  sent.  In  the  face  of  all  this  and  the  King's  deter 
mination,  Columbus  could  do  nothing  but  acquiesce,  and  so  he 
gradually  made  up  his  mind  to  bide  his  time  once  more.  It 
was  not  a  new  discipline  for  him. 

It  was  clear  from  the  intelligence  which  was  reaching  Spain 
that  Bobadilla  would  have  to  be  superseded.  Freed 
rate  IB  a  from  the  restraints  which  had  created  so  much  com 
plaint  during  the  rule  of  Columbus,  and  even  courted 
with  offers  of  indulgence,  the  miserable  colony  at  Espanola 
readily  degenerated  from  bad  to  worse.  The  new  governor  had 
hoped  to  find  that  a  lack  of  constraint  would  do  for  the  people 
what  an  excess  of  it  had  failed  to  do.  He  erred  in  his  judg 
ment,  and  let  the  colony  slip  beyond  his  control.  Licentious 
ness  was  everywhere.  The  only  exaction  he  required  was  the 
tribute  of  gold.  He  reduced  the  proportion  which  must  be 
surrendered  to  the  Crown  from  a  third  to  an  eleventh,  but  he 
so  apportioned  the  labor  of  the  natives  to  the  colonists  that 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  429 

the  yield  of  gold  grew  rapidly,  and  became  more  with  the  tax  an 
eleventh  than  it  had  been  when  it  was  a  third.  This  inhuman 
degradation  of  the  poor  natives  had  become  an  organized  mis 
ery  when,  a  little  later,  Las  Casas  arrived  in  the  colony,  and  he 
depicts  the  baleful  contrasts  of  the  Indians  and  their  attractive 
island.  Gold  was  potent,  but  it  was  not  potent  enough  to  keep 
Bobadilla  in  his  place.  The  representations  of  the  agony  of 
life  among  the  natives  were  so  harrowing  that  it  was  decided  to 
send  a  new  governor  at  once. 

The  person  selected  was  Nicholas  de  Ovando,  a  man  of  whom 
Las  Casas,  who  went  out  with  him,  gives  a  high  char- 

.     .  ,  .  T-»      i  Ovando 

acter  for  justice,  sobriety,  and  graciousness.  Perhaps  sent  to 
he  deserved  it.  The  sympathizers  with  Columbus 
find  it  hard  to  believe  such  praise.  Ovando  was  commissioned 
as  governor  over  all  the  continental  and  insular  domains,  then 
acquired  or  thereafter  to  be  added  to  the  Crown  in  the  New 
World.  He  was  to  have  his  capital  at  Santo  Domingo.  He 
was  deputed,  with  about  as  much  authority  as  Bobadilla  had 
had,  to  correct  abuses  and  punish  delinquents,  and  was  to  take 
one  third  of  all  gold  so  far  stored  up,  and  one  half  of  what 
was  yet  to  be  gathered.  He  was  to  monopolize  all  trade  for 
the  Crown.  He  was  to  segregate  the  colonists  as  much  as  pos 
sible  in  settlements.  No  supplies  were  to  be  allowed  to  the  peo 
ple  unless  they  got  them  through  the  royal  factor.  New  efforts 
were  to  be  made  through  some  Franciscans,  who  accompanied 
Ovando,  to  convert  the  Indians.  The  natives  were  to  be  made 
to  work  in  the  mines  as  hired  servants,  paid  by  the  Crown. 

It  had  already  become  evident  that  such  labor  as  the  mining 
of  gold  required  was  too  exhausting  for  the  natives,  and  the 
death-rate  among  them  was  such  that  eyes  were  already  opened 
to  the  danger  of  extermination.     By  a  sophistry  which  suited  a 
sixteenth-century  Christian,  the  existence  of  this  poor  race  was 
to  be  prolonged  by  introducing  the   negro  race  from 
Africa,  to  take  the  heavier  burden  of  the  toil,  because  to  be  intro- 
it  was  believed  they  would  die  more  slowly  under  the 
trial.     So  it  was  royally  ordered  that  slaves,  born  of  Africans, 
in  Spain,  might  be  carried  to  Espanola.    The  promise  of  Colum- 
bus's  letter  to  Sanchez  was  beginning  to  prove  delusive.       It 
was  going  to  require  the  degradation  of  two  races  instead  of 
one.     That  was  all ! 


430  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

To  assuage  the  smart  of  all  this  forcible  deprivation  of  his 

1501.  Co-     power,  Columbus  was  apprised   that   under  a  royal 
JJ^erty       order  of  September  27,  1501,  Ovando  would  see  to 
restored.        ^Q  restitution  of  any  property  of  his  which  Bobadilla 
had  appropriated,  and  that  the  Admiral  was  to  be  allowed  to 

send  a  factor  in  the  fleet  to  look  after  his  interests 
under  the  articles  which  divided  the  gold  and  treasure 
between  him  and  the  Crown.     To  this  office  of  factor  Colum 
bus  appointed  Alonso  Sanchez  de  Carvajal. 

The  pomp  and  circumstance  of  the  fleet  were  like  a  biting 
ovando's  sarcasm  to  the  poor  Admiral.  One  might  expect  he 
could  have  no  high  opinions  of  its  pilots,  for  we  find 
him  writing  to  the  sovereigns,  on  February  6,  a  letter  laying 
before  them  certain  observations  on  the  art  of  navigation,  in 
which  he  says :  "  There  will  be  many  who  will  desire  to  sail  to 
the  discovered  islands ;  and  if  the  way  is  known  those  who 
have  had  experience  of  it  may  safest  traverse  it."  Perhaps 
he  meant  to  imply  that  better  pilots  were  more  important  than 
much  parade.  He  in  his  most  favored  time  had  never  been 
fitted  out  with  a  fleet  of  thirty  sail,  so  many  of  them  large 
ships.  He  had  never  carried  out  so  many  cavaliers,  nor  so 
large  a  proportion  of  such  persons  of  rank,  as  made  a  shining 
part  of  the  2,500  souls  now  embarked.  He  could  contrast  his 
Franciscan  gown  and  girdle  of  rope  with  Ovando's  brilliant 
silks  and  brocades  which  the  sovereigns  authorized  him  to  wear. 
There  was  more  state  in  the  new  governor's  bodyguard  of 
twenty-two  esquires,  mounted  and  foot,  than  Columbus  had  ever 
dreamed  of  in  Santo  Domingo.  Instead  of  vile  convicts  there 
were  respectable  married  men  with  their  families,  the  guaranty 
of  honorable  living.  So  that  when  the  fleet  went  to  sea,  Febru 
ary  13,  1502,  there  were  hopes  that  a  right  method 
ruary  3.  it  of  founding  a  colony  on  family  life  had  at  last  found 

favor. 
The  vessels  very   soon    encountered   a   gale,   in   which   one 

1502.  April,   ship  foundered,  and  from  the  deck-loads  which  were 
fa^toDo-      thrown  over  from  the  rest  and  floated  to  the  shore 

it  was  for  a  long  time  apprehended  that  the  fleet 
had  suffered  much  more  severely.  A  single  ship  was  all  that 
failed  finally  to  reach  Santo  Domingo  about  the  middle  of 
April,  1502. 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  431 

Let  us  turn  now  to  Columbus  himself.  He  had  riot  failed, 
as  we  have  said,  to  reach  something  like  mental  quiet  in  the 
conviction  that  he  could  expect  nothing  but  neglect  for  the 
present.  So  his  active  mind  engaged  in  those  visionary  and 
speculative  trains  of  thought  wherein,  when  his  body  was 
weary  and  his  spirits  harried,  he  was  prpne  to  find  relief. 

He   set  himself    to  the  composition   of  a  maundering   and 
erratic  paper,  which,  under  the  title  of  Libros  de  las 
;  is  preserved  in  the  Biblioteca  Colombina  at 


Seville.      The   manuscript,    however,   is   not   in   the  f 
handwriting  of  Columbus,  and   no  one  has  thought  it  worth 
while  to  print  the  whole  of  it. 

In  it  there  is  evidence  of  his  study,  with  the  assistance  of  a 
Carthusian  friar,  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  early  fathers  of  the 
Church,  and  it  shows,  as  his  letter  to  Juan's  nurse  had  shown, 
how  he  had  at  last  worked  himself  into  the  belief  that  all  his 
early  arguments  for  the  westward  passage  were  vain  ;  that  he 
had  simply  been  impelled  by  something  that  he  had  not  then 
suspected  ;  and  that  his  was  but  a  predestined  mission  to  make 
good  what  he  imagined  was  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  in  isaiah»s 
the  Apocalypse.     This  having  been  done,  there  was  Pr°Phecy- 
something  yet  left  to  be  accomplished  before  the  anticipated 
eclipse  of  all  earthly  things  came  on,  and  that  was  the 
conquest  of  the  Holy  Land,  for  which  he  was  the  ap-  the  Holy 
pointed  leader.     He  addressed  this  driveling  exposi 
tion,  together  with  an  urgent  appeal  for  the  undertaking  of  the 
crusade,  to   Ferdinand  and   Isabella,   but  without  convincing 
them  that  such  a  self-appointed  instrument  of  God  was  quite 
worthy  of  their  employment. 

The  great  catastrophe  of  the  world's  end  was,  as  Columbus 
calculated,  about  155  years  away.     He  based  his  esti-  End  of  the 
mate   upon   an   opinion   of    St.   Augustine   that   the  world> 
world  would  endure  for  7,000  years  ;  and  upon  King  Alfonso's 
reckoning    that    nearly  5,344  years  had  passed  when   Christ 
appeared.     The  1,501  years  since  made  the  sum  6,845,  leav 
ing  out  of  the  7,000  the  155  years  of  his  belief. 

He  also  fancied,  or  professed  to  believe,  in  a  letter  which  he 
subsequently  wrote  to  the  Pope,  that  the  present  de-  Defeated  by 
privation  of  his  titles  and  rights  was  the  work  of  Satan,  Satan> 
who  came  to  see  that  the  success  of  Columbus  in  the  Indies 


432  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

would  be  only  a  preparation  for  the  Admiral's  long-vaunted 
recovery  of  the  Holy  Land.  The  Spanish  government  mean 
while  knew,  and  they  had  reason  to  know,  that  their  denial  of 
his  prerogatives  had  quite  as  much  to  do  with  other  things  as 
with  a  legion  of  diabolical  powers.  Unfortunately  for  Colum 
bus,  neither  they  nor  the  Pope  were  inclined  to  act  on  any  inter 
pretation  of  fate  that  did  not  include  a  civil  policy  of  justice 
and  prosperity. 

These  visions  of  Columbus  were  harmless,  and  served  to  be 
guile  him  with  pious  whimsies.  But  the  mood  did  not  last.  He 
next  turned  to  his  old  geographical  problems.  The 
grapEai  Portuguese  were  searching  north  and  south  for  the  pas 
sage  that  would  lead  to  some  indefinite  land  of  spices, 
and  afford  a  new  way  to  reach  the  trade  with  Calicut  and  the 
Moluccas,  which  at  this  time,  by  the  African  route,  was  pouring 
wealth  into  the  Portuguese  treasury  in  splendid  contrast  to  the 
scant  return  from  the  Spanish  Indies.  He  harbored  a  belief 
that  a  better  passage  might  yet  be  found  beyond  the  Caribbean 
Sea.  La  Cosa,  in  placing  that  vignette  of  St.  Christopher  and 
the  infant  Christ  athwart  the  supposed  juncture  of  Asia  and 
would  seek  South  America,  had  eluded  the  question,  not  solved  it. 
westerly6  Columbus  would  now  go  and  attack  the  problem  on 
car°ibbeanhe  *ne  sPot-  His  expectation  to  find  a  desired  opening  in 
that  direction  was  based  on  physical  phenomena,  but 
in  fact  on  only  partial  knowledge  of  them.  He  had  been  aware 
of  the  strong  currents  which  set  westward  through  the  Carib 
bean  Sea,  and  he  had  found  them  still  flowing  west  when  he 
had  reached  the  limit  of  his  exploration  of  the  southern  coast  of 
Cuba.  Bastidas,  who  had  just  pushed  farther  west  on  the  main 
coast,  had  turned  back  while  the  currents  were  still  flowing  on, 
along  what  seemed  an  endless  coast  beyond.  Bastidas  did  not 
arrive  in  Spain  till  some  months  after  Columbus  had  sailed, 
for  he  was  detained  a  prisoner  in  Espanola  at  this  time.  Some 
tidings  of  his  experiences  may  have  reached  Spain,  however,  or 
the  Admiral  may  not  have  got  his  confirmation  of  these  views 
Columbus  till  ne  found  that  voyager  at  Santo  Domingo,  later. 
stan78dtehe  Columbus  had  believed  Cuba  to  be  another  main,  con 
currents.  fining  this  onward  waste  of  waters  to  the  south  of  it. 
It  was  clear  to  him  that  such  currents  must  find  an  outlet  to 
the  west,  and  if  found,  such  a  passage  would  carry  him  on  to 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  433 

the  sea  that  washed  the  Golden  Chersonesus.      He  indeed  died 
without  knowing  the  truth.     This  same  current,  deflected  about 
Honduras  and  Yucatan,  sweeps  by  a  northerly  circuit  round  the 
great  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and,  passing  out  by  the  Cape  Gulf 
of  Florida,  flows  northward  in  what  we  now  call  the  stream- 
Gulf  Stream. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  the  efforts  of  the  canonizers  more  ab 
surdly  puerile  than  De  Lorgues's  version  of  the  way  in  which 
Columbus  came  to  believe  in  this  strait.  He  had  a  vision,  and 
saw  it !  The  only  difficulty  in  the  matter  was  that  the  poor 
Admiral  was  so  ecstatic  in  his  hallucination  that  he  mistook  the 
narrowness  of  an  isthmus  for  the  narrowness  of  a  strait ! 

The  proposition  of  such  a  search  was  not  inopportune  in  the 
eyes  of  Ferdinand.    There  were  those  about  the  Court 
who  thought  it  unwise  to  give  further  employment  to  a  nient  relief 

,'  j  -.    j     ,P  ,  .       ,  , ,  ,,         toFerdinand 

man  who  was  degraded  from  his  honors ;  but  to  the  to  send  c0- 

-r^.          ..  .  f  .    .  lumbuson 

King  it  was  a  convenient  way  of  removing  a  persistent  such  a 
and  active-minded  complainant  from  the  vicinity  of 
the  Court,  to  send  him  on   some  quest  or  other,  and  no  one 
could  tell  but  there  was  some  truth  in  his  new  views.     It  was 
worth  while  to  let  him  try.     So  once  again,  by  the  royal  per 
mission,  Columbus  set  himself  to  work  equipping  a 
little  fleet.     It  was  the  autumn  of  1501  when  he  ap-  lumbus  pre- 
peared   in    Seville   with    the   sovereign's    commands,   equip  hw 
He  varied  his  work  of  preparing  the  ships  with  spend 
ing  some  part  of  his  time  on  his  treatise  on  the  prophecies, 
while  a  friar  named  Gaspar  Gorricio  helped  him  in  the  laboi\ 
Early  in  1502  he  had  got  it  into  shape  to  present  to  F^ 

the  sovereigns,  and  in  February  he  wrote  the  letter  ruary.   co- 
to  Pope  Alexander  VII.  which  has  already  been  men-  writes  to  the 

/  J  Pope. 

tioned. 

As  the  preparations  went  on,  he  began  to  think  of  Espanola, 
and  how  he  might  perhaps  be  allowed  to  touch  there  : 

i  j  .  ,  .          „      ,  .  ,  ,.  ,         Forbidden  to 

but  orders  were  given  to  nun  torbidding   it  on  the  touci^at 
outward  passage,  though  suffering  it  on  the  return,  for 
it  was  hoped  by  that  time  that  the  disorders  of  the  island  would 
be  suppressed.     It  was  arranged  that  the  Adelantado  and  his 
own  son  Ferdinand  should  accompany  him,  and  some  interpret 
ers  learned  in  Arabic  were  put  on  board,  in  case  his  success 
put  him  in  contact  with  the  people  of  the  Great  Khan. 


434  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  suspension  of  his  rights  lay  heavily  on  his  mind,  and 
early  in  March,  1502,  he  ventured  to  refer  to  the  subject  once 
more  in  a  letter  to  the  sovereigns.  They  replied,  March  14, 
in  some  instructions  which  they  sent  from  Valencia  de  Torre, 
advising  him  to  keep  his  mind  at  ease,  and  leave  such  things  to 
the  care  of  his  son  Diego.  They  assured  him  that  in  due  time 
the  proper  restitution  of  all  would  be  made,  and  that  he  must 
abide  the  time. 

He  had  already  taken  steps  to  secure  a  perpetuity  of  the 
1502.  janu-  record  of  his  honors  and  deeds,  if  nothing  else  could 
^e  permanent.  It  was  at  Seville,  January  5,  1502, 
*nat  Columbus,  appearing  before  a  notary  in  his  own 
titles,  etc.  house,  attested  that  series  of  documents  respecting  his 
titles  and  prerogatives  which  are  so  religiously  preserved  at 
Genoa.  These  papers,  as  we  have  seen,  were  copies  which  Co 
lumbus  had  lately  secured  from  the  documents  in  the  Spanish 
Admiralty,  among  which  he  was  careful  to  include  the  revo 
cation  of  June  2,  1497,  of  the  licenses  which,  much  to  Colum- 
bus's  annoyance,  had  been  granted  in  1495,  to  allow  others  than 
himself  to  explore  in  the  new  regions.  We  may  not  wonder  at 
this,  but  we  can  hardly  conjecture  why  a  transaction  of  his 
which  had  caused  as  much  as  anything  his  wrongs,  mortifica 
tion,  and  the  loss  of  his  dignities  should  have  been  as  assidu 
ously  preserved.  These  are  the  royal  orders  which  enabled 
Columbus,  at  his  request,  to  fill  up  his  colony  with  unshackled 
convicts.  This  he  might  as  well  have  let  the  world  forget. 
The  royal  order  requiring  Bobadilla  or  his  successor  to  restore 
all  the  sequestered  property  of  Columbus,  and  the  new  decla 
ration  of  his  rights,  he  might  well  have  been  anxious  to 
preserve. 

There  was  one  other  act  to  be  done  which  lay  upon  his  mind, 
now  that  the  time  of  sailing  approached.  He  wished  to  make 
provision  that  his  heirs  should  be  able  to  confer  some  favor  on 
his  native  city,  and  he  directed  that  investments  should  be  made 
coiumbus  f°r  tnat  purpose  in  the  Bank  of  St.  George  at  Genoa. 
B°nkhofst.  He  then  notified  the  managers  of  that  bank  of  his 
George.  intention  in  a  letter  which  is  so  characteristic  of  his 
moods  of  deinentation  that  it  is  here  copied  as  Harrisse  trans 
lates  it :  — 


COLUMBUS  AGAIN  IN  SPAIN.  435 

HIGH  NOBLE  LORDS  :  —  Although  the  body  walks  about 
here,  the  heart  is  constantly  over  there.  Our  Lord  has  con 
ferred  on  me  the  greatest  favor  to  any  one  since  David.  The 
results  of  my  undertaking  already  appear,  and  would  shine 
greatly  were  they  not  concealed  by  the  blindness  of  the  govern 
ment.  I  am  going  again  to  the  Indies  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,  soon  to  return ;  and  since  I  am  mortal,  I  leave 
it  with  my  son  Diego  that  you  receive  every  year,  forever,  one 
tenth  of  the  entire  revenue,  such  as  it  may  be,  for  the  purpose 
of  reducing  the  tax  upon  corn,  wine,  arid  other  provisions.  If 
that  tenth  amounts  to  something,  collect  it.  If  not,  take  at 
least  the  will  for  the  deed.  I  beg  of  you  to  entertain  regard  for 
the  son  I  have  recommended  to  you.  Nicolo  de  Oderigo  knows 
more  about  my  own  affairs  than  I  do  myself,  and  I  have  sent 
him  the  transcripts  of  any  privileges  and  letters  for  safe-keeping. 
I  should  be  glad  if  you  could  see  them.  My  lords,  the  King  and 
Queen  endeavor  to  honor  me  more  than  ever.  May  the  Holy 
Trinity  preserve  your  noble  persons  and  increase  your  most 
magnificent  House.  Done  in  Sevilla,  on  the  second  day  of 
April,  1502. 

The  chief  Admiral  of  the  ocean,  Viceroy  and  Governor-Gen 
eral  of  the  islands  and  continent  of  Asia  and  the  Indies,  of  my 
lords,  the  King  and  Queen,  their  Captain-Genera]  of  the  sea, 
and  of  their  Council. 

S. 

.S.A.S. 
X  M  Y 
Xpo  FERENS. 

The  letter  was  handed  by  Columbus  to  a  Genoese  banker, 
then  in  Spain,  Francisco  de  Eivarolla,   who   forwarded  it  to 
Oderigo ;  but  as  this  ambassador  was  then  on  his  way  to  Spain, 
Harrisse  conjectures  that  he  did  not  receive  the  letter  till  his 
return  to  Genoa,  for  the  reply  of  the  bank  is  dated  De-  1502.  De_ 
cember  8,  1502,  long  after  Columbus  had  sailed.   This  ?£?££. 
response  was  addressed  to  Diego,  and  inclosed  a  letter  reply* 
to  the  Admiral.     The  great  affection  and  good  will  of  Colum 
bus  towards  "  his  first  country  "  gratified  them  inexpressibly,  as 
they  said  to  the  son ;  and  to  the  father  they  acknowledged  the 
act  of  his  intentions  to  be  "  as  great  and  extraordinary  as  that 


436  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

which  has  been  recorded  about  any  man  in  the  world,  consider 
ing  that  by  your  own  skill,  energy,  and  prudence,  you  have  dis 
covered  such  a  considerable  portion  of  this  earth  and  sphere  of 
the  lower  world,  which  during  so  many  years  past  and  centuries 
had  remained  unknown  to  its  inhabitants." 

The  letter  of  Columbus  to  the  bank  remained  on  the  files  of 
that  institution  —  a  single  sheet  of  paper,  written  on  one  side 
only,  and  pierced  in  the  centre  for  the  thread  of  the  file  —  undis 
covered  till  the  archivist  of  the  bank,  attracted  by  the  indorse 
ment,  M  D  II,  EPLA  D.  ADMIRATI  DON  XKOPHORI  COLUMBI, 
identified  it  in  1829,  when,  at  the  request  of  the  authorities  of 
Genoa,  it  was  transferred  to  the  keeping  of  its  archivists.  It 
is  to  be  seen  at  the  city  hall,  to-day,  placed  between  two  glass 
plates,  so  that  either  side  of  the  paper  can  be  read. 


••.    .c.,|    i 

I 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE. 

1502-1504. 

THEIR  Majesties,  in  March,  1502,  were  evidently  disturbed 
at  Coluinbus's  delays  in  sailing,  since  such  detentions  1502 
brought  to  them  nothing  but  the  Admiral's  continued 
importunities.     They  now  instructed  him  to  sail  with-  to  saiL 
out  the  least  delay.    Nevertheless,  Columbus,  who  had  given  out, 
as  Trivigiano  reports,  that  he  expected  his  discoveries  on  this 
voyage  to  be  more  surprising  and  helpful  than  any  yet  made, 
his  purpose  being,  in  fact,  to  circumnavigate  the  globe,   May  9_n> 
did  not  sail  from  Cadiz  till  May  9  or  11,  1502,  —  the  Sailed- 
accounts  vary.      He  had  four  caravels,  from  fifty  to  seventy 
tons  each,  and  they  carried  in  all  not  over  one  hundred  and 
fifty  men. 

Apparently  not  forgetting  the  Admiral's  convenient  reserva 
tion  respecting  the  pearls  in  his  third  voyage,  their  Hisinstruc- 
Majesties  in  their  instructions  particularly  enjoined  tions* 
upon  him  that  all  gold  and  other  precious  commodities  which 
he  might  find  should  be  committed  at  once  to  the  keeping 
of  Francois  de  Porras,  who  was  sent  with  him  to  the  end  that 
the  sovereigns  might  have  trustworthy  evidence  in  his  accounts 
of  the  amount  received.  Equally  mindful  of  earlier  defections, 
their  further  instructions  also  forbade  the  taking  of  any  slaves. 

Years  had  begun  to  rest  heavily  on  the  frame  of  Columbus. 
His  constitution  had  been  strained  by  long  exposures, 
and  his  spirits  had  little  elasticity  left.  Hope,  to  be  cSnd 
sure,  had  not  altogether  departed  from  his  ardent  Columbus- 
nature ;  but  it  was  a  hope  that  had  experienced  many  reverses, 
and  its  pinions  were  clipped.  There  was  still  in  him  no  lack 
of  mental  vitality ;  but  his  reason  had  lost  equipoise,  and  his 
discernment  was  clouded  with  illusory  visions. 


488  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

There  was  the  utmost  desire  at  this  time  on  the  part  of  their 
Majesties  that  no  rupture  should  break  the  friendly  relations 
which  were  sustained  with  the  Portuguese  court,  and  it  had 
been  arranged  that,  in  case  Columbus  should  fall  in  with  any 
Portuguese  fleet,  there  should  be  the  most  civil  interchange  of 
courtesies.  The  Spanish  monarchs  had  also  given  orders,  since 
word  had  come  of  the  Moors  besieging  a  Portuguese  post  on 
the  African  coast,  that  Columbus  should  first  go  thither  and 
afford  the  garrison  relief. 

It  was  found,  on  reaching  that  African  harbor  on  the  15th, 

Columbus      that  tne  Moors  had  departed.     So,  with  no  longer  de- 

AfricaT the    lav  tnan  to  exchange  civilities,  he  lifted  anchor  on  the 

coast.  same  day  and  put  to  sea.     It  was  while  he  was  at  the 

Canaries,  May  20-25,  taking  in  wood  and  water,  that  Columbus 

wrote  to  his  devoted  Gorricio  a  letter,  which  Navar- 

At  the  Cana-  rete  preserves.    "  Now  my  voyage  will  be  made  in  the 

name  of  the  Holy  Trinity,"  he  says,  "  and  I  hope  for 

success." 

There  is  little  to  note  on  the  voyage,  which  had  been  a  pros 
perous  one,  and  on  June  15  he  reached  Martinino 

1502.    June      *  .     .  . 

15.  Reaches  (Martmico).  He  himself  professes  to  have  been  but 
twenty  days  between  Cadiz  and  Martinino,  but  the 
statement  seems  to  have  been  confused,  with  his  usual  inac 
curacy.  He  thence  pushed  leisurely  along  over  much  the  same 
track  which  he  had  pursued  on  his  second  voyage,  till  he  steered 
finally  for  Santo  Domingo. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  royal  orders  issued  to  him  before 

leaving  Spain  were  so  far  at  variance  with  Columbus's  wishes 

that  he  was  denied  the  satisfaction  of  touching  at  Espanola. 

There  can  be  little  question  as  to  the  wisdom  of  an  in- 

Determines       .  .  •'••   i        »**.••  i  i  •  i  • 

to  go  to  ES-  junction  which  the  Admiral  now  determined  to  disre 
gard.  His  excuse  was  that  his  principal  caravel  was  f<. 
poor  sailer,  and  he  thought  he  could  commit  no  mistake  in  in 
suring  greater  success  for  his  voyage  by  exchanging  at  that  port 
this  vessel  for  a  better  one.  He  forgot  his  own  treatment  of 
Ojeda  when  he  drove  that  adventurer  from  the  island,  where, 
to  provision  a  vessel  whose  crew  was  starving,  Ojeda  dared  to 
trench  on  his  government.  When  we  view  this  pretense  for 
thrusting  himself  upon  an  unwilling  community  in  the  light  of 
his  unusually  quick  and  prosperous  voyage  and  his  failure  to 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  439 

make  any  mention  of  his  vessel's  defects  when  he  wrote  from 
the  Canaries,  we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  his  deter 
mination  to  call  at  Espanola  was  suddenly  taken.  His  whole 
conduct  in  the  matter  looks  like  an  obstinate  purpose  to  carry 
his  own  point  against  the  royal  commands,  just  as  he  had  tried 
to  carry  it  against  the  injunctions  respecting  the  making  of 
slaves.  We  must  remember  this  when  we  come  to  consider  the 
later  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  King.  We  must  remember, 
also,  the  considerate  language  with  which  the  sovereigns  had 
conveyed  this  injunction :  "  It  is  not  fit  that  you  should  lose  so 
much  time ;  it  is  much  fitter  that  you  should  go  another  way  ; 
though  if  it  appears  necessary,  and  God  is  willing,  you  may  stay 
there  a  little  while  on  your  return," 

Roselly  de  Lorgues,  with  his  customary  disingenuousness, 
merely  says  that  Columbus  came  to  Santo  Domingo,  to  deliver 
letters  with  which  he  was  charged,  and  to  exchange  one  of  his 
caravels. 

It  was  the  29th  of  June  when  the  little  fleet  of  Columbus 
arrived  off  the  port.  He  sent  in  one  of  his  command- 

,  .      .  ,      ,,          ,  .          ,  .  ,      .,         1502.     June 

ers  to  ask  permission  to  shelter  his  ships,  and  the  29.  coium- 
privilege  of  negotiating  for  another  caravel,  since,  as  off  Santo 
he  says,  "  one  of  his  ships  had  become  unseaworthy 
and  could  no  longer  carry  sail."  His  request  came  to  Ovando, 
who  was  now  in  command.  This  governor  had  left  Spain  in 
February,  only  a  month  before  Columbus  received  his  final  in 
structions,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  had  learned  from 
Fonseca  that  those  instructions  would  enjoin  Columbus  not  to 
complicate  in  any  way  Ovando's  assumption  of  command  by  ap 
proaching  his  capital.  Las  Casas  seems  to  imply  this.  How 
ever  it  may  be,  Ovando  was  amply  qualified  by  his  own  instruc 
tions  to  do  what  he  thought  the  circumstances  required.  Co 
lumbus  represented  that  a  storm  was  coming  on,  or  rather  the 
Historic  tells  us  that  he  did.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  Colum 
bus  himself  makes  no  such  statement.  At  all  events,  word  was 
sent  back  to  Columbus  by  his  boat  that  he  could  not  coiumbus 
enter  the  harbor.  Irving  calls  this  an  "  ungracious  ente^the  t0 
refusal,"  and  it  turned  out  that  later  events  have  op-  harbor- 
portunely  afforded  the  apologists  for  the  Admiral  the  occasion 
to  point  a  moral  to  his  advantage,  particularly  since  Columbus, 
if  we  may  believe  the  doubtful  story,  confident  of  his  prognosti- 


440  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

cations,  had  again  sent  word  that  the  fleet  lying  in  the  harbor, 
ready  to  sail,  would  go  out  at  great  peril  in  view  of  an  impend 
ing  storm.  It  seems  to  be  quite  uncertain  if  at  the  time  his 
crew  had  any  knowledge  of  his  reasons  for  nearing  Espanola, 
or  of  his  being  denied  admittance  to  the  port.  At  least  Porras, 
from  the  way  he  describes  the  events,  leaves  one  to  make  such 
an  inference. 

This  fleet  in  the  harbor  was  that  which  had  brought  Ovando, 
ovando'a       an^  was  now  laden  for  the  return.     There  was  on 

board  of  it,  as  Columbus  might  have  learned  from  his 
messengers,  the  man  of  all  men  whom  he  most  hated,  Bobadilla, 

w^°  had  gracef  ully  yielded  the  power  to  Ovando  two 

months  before,  and  of  whom  Las  Casas,  who  was  then 
the  fleet.  fresh  in  his  inquisitive  seeking  after  knowledge  re 
specting  the  Indies  and  on  the  spot,  could  not  find  that  any  one 
spoke  ill.  On  the  same  ship  was  Columbus's  old  rebellious  and 
tergiversating  companion,  Roldan,  whose  conduct  had  been  in 
these  two  months  examined,  and  who  was  now  to  be  sent  to 
Spain  for  further  investigations.  There  was  also  embarked,  but 
in  chains,  the  unfortunate  cacique  of  the  Vega,  Guarionex,  to 
be  made  a  show  of  in  Seville.  The  lading  of  the  ships  was 
the  most  wonderful  for  wealth  that  had  ever  been  sent  from 
the  island.  There  was  the  gold  which  Bobadilla  had  collected, 
including  a  remarkable  nugget  which  an  Indian  woman  had 
picked  up  in  a  brook,  and  a  large  quantity  which  Roldan  and 
his  friends  were  taking  on  their  own  account,  as  the  profit  of 

their  separate  enterprises.  Carvajal,  whom  Columbus 
factor  had  had  sent  out  with  Ovando  as  his  factor,  to  look  after 
gold  on  one  his  pecuniary  interests  under  the  provisions  which  the 

royal  commands  had  made,  had  also  placed  in  one  of 

the  caravels  four  thousand  pieces  of  the  same  precious  metal, 

the  result  of  the  settlement  of   Ovando  with  Bobadilla,   and 

the  accretions  of  the  Admiral's  share  of  the  Crown's  profits. 

JJiidismayed  by  the  warnings  of  Columbus,  this  fleet  at  once 

Put  *°  sea>  tne  Admiral's  little  caravels  having  mean- 

while  crept  under  the  shore  at  a  distance  to  find  such 
wrecked;  shelter  as  they  could.  The  larger  fleet  stood  home 
ward,  and  was  scarcely  off  the  easterly  end  of  Espanola  when 
a  furious  hurricane  burst  upon  it.  The  ship  which  carried 
Bobadilla,  Roldan,  and  Guarionex  succumbed  and  went  down, 


THE  FOURTH    VOYAGE.  441 

Others  foundered  later.  Some  of  the  vessels  managed  to  re 
turn  to  Santo  Domingo  in  a  shattered  condition.  A  single 
caravel,  it  is  usually  stated,  survived  the  shock,  so  that  it  alone 
could  proceed  on  the  voyage ;  and  if  the  testimony  is  to  be  be 
lieved,  this  was  the  weakest  of  them  all,  but  she  car-  but  ship 
ried  the  gold  of  Columbus.  Among  the  caravels  which 
put  back  to  Santo  Domingo  for  repairs  was  one  on  saved- 
which  Bastidas  was  going  to  Spain  for  trial.  This  one  arrived 
at  Cadiz  in  September,  1502. 

The  ships  of  Columbus  had  weathered  the  gale.     That  of  the 
Admiral,  by  keeping  close  in  to  land,  had  fared  best.  Coiumbu8's 
The  others,  seeking  sea-room,  had  suffered  more.    They  JjJe^the*" 
lost  sight  of  each  other,  however,  during  the  height  of  the  gale> 
gale  ;  but  when  it  was  over,  they  met  together  at  Port  Hermoso, 
at  the  westerly  end  of  the  island.     The  gale  is  a  picture  over 
which  the  glow  of  a  retributive  justice,  under  the  favoring  dis 
pensation  of  chance,  is  so  easily  thrown  by  sympathetic  writers 
that  the  effusions  of  the  sentimentalists  have  got  to  stand  at 
last  for  historic  verity.     De  Lorgues  does  not  lose  the  opportu 
nity  to  make  the  most  of  it. 

Columbus,  having  lingered  about  the  island  to  repair  his  ships 
and  refresh  his  crews,  and  also  to  avoid  a  second  storm,  did 
not  finally  get  away   till   July  14,  when  he  steered  1502    July 
directly  for  Terra  Firma.     The   currents   perplexed  ^s££um~ 
him,  and,  as  there  was  little  wind,  he  was  swept  west  away* 
further  than  he  expected.     He  first  touched  at  some  islands 
near  Jamaica.     Thence  he  proceeded  west  a  quarter  southwest, 
for  four  days,  without  seeing  land,  as  Porras  tells  us,  when,  be 
wildered,  he  turned  to  the  northwest,  and   then  north.      But 
finding  himself  (July  24)  in  the  archipelago  near  Cuba,  which 
on  his  second  voyage  he  had  called  The  Gardens,  he  soon  after 
getting  a  fair  wind  (July  27)  stood  southwest,  and  on  July30>   Afc 
July  30  made  a  small  island,  off  the  northern  coast  of  GuanaJa- 
Honduras,  called  Guanaja  by  the  natives,  and  Isla  de  Pinos  by 
himself.     He  was  now  in  sight  of  the  mountains  of  the  main 
land.     The  natives  struck  him  as  of  a  physical  type  different 
from  all  others  whom  he  had  seen.     A  large  canoe, 
eight  feet  beam,  and  of  great  length,  though  made  of  strange 
a  single  log,    approached  with  still  stranger  people  in 
it.     They  had  apparently  come  from  a  region  further  north ; 


442  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

and  under  a  canopy  in  the  waist  of  the  canoe  sat  a  cacique 
with  his  dependents.  The  boat  was  propelled  by  five  and 
twenty  men  with  paddles.  It  carried  various  articles  to  convince 
Columbus  that  he  had  found  a  people  more  advanced  in  arts 
than  those  of  the  regions  earlier  discovered.  They  had  with 
them  copper  implements,  including  hatchets,  bells,  and  the  like. 
He  saw  something  like  a  crucible  in  which  metal  had  been 
melted.  Their  wooden  swords  were  jagged  with  sharp  flints, 
their  clothes  were  carefully  made,  their  utensils  were  polished 
and  handy.  Columbus  traded  off  some  trinkets  for  such  speci 
mens  as  he  wanted.  If  he  now  had  gone  in  the  direction  from 
which  this  marvelous  canoe  had  come,  he  might  have  thus 
early  opened  the  wondrous  world  of  Yucatan  and  Mexico,  and 
closed  his  career  with  more  marvels  yet.  His  beatific  visions, 
which  he  supposed  were  leading  him  under  the  will  of  the 
Deity,  led  him,  however,  south.  The  delusive  strait  was  there. 
He  found  an  old  man  among  the  Indians,  whom  he  kept  as  a 
guide,  since  the  savage  could  draw  a  sort  of  chart  of  the  coast. 
He  dismissed  the  rest  with  presents,  after  he  had  wrested  from 
them  what  he  wanted.  Approaching  the  mainland,  near  the 
present  Cape  of  Honduras,  the  Adelantado  landed  on  Sunday, 
on  the  August  14,  and  mass  was  celebrated  in  a  grove  near 
S>astura*  *ke  beach.  Again,  on  the  17th,  Bartholomew  landed 
some  distance  eastward  of  the  first  spot,  and  here,  by 
a  river  (Rio  de  la  Posesion,  now  Rio  Tinto),  he  planted  the  Cas- 
tilian  banner  and  formally  took  possession  of  the  country.  The 
Indians  were  friendly,  and  there  was  an  interchange  of  provisions 
and  trinkets.  The  natives  were  tattooed,  and  they  had  other 
customs,  such  as  the  wearing  of  cotton  jackets,  and  the  distend 
ing  of  their  ears  by  rings,  which  were  new  to  the  Spaniards. 

Tracking  the  coast  still  eastward,  Columbus  struggled  against 
the  current,  apparently  without  reasoning  that  he  might  be  thus 
sailing  away  from  the  strait,  so  engrossed  was  he  with  the 
thought  that  such  a  channel  must  be  looked  for  farther  south. 
Seeking  a  His  visions  had  not  helped  him  to  comprehend  the 
sweep  of  waters  that  would  disprove  his  mock  oaths  of 
the  Cuban  coast.  So  he  wore  ship  constantly  against  the  tempest 
and  current,  and  crawled  with  bewildered  expectation  along  the 
shore.  All  this  tacking  tore  his  sails,  racked  his  caravels,  and 
wore  out  his  seamen.  The  men  were  in  despair,  and  confessed 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE. 


443 


one  another.     Some  made  vows  of  penance,  if  their  lives  were 
preserved.     Columbus  was  himself  wrenched  with  the 
gout,  and  from  a  sort  of  pavilion,  which  covered  his 
couch  on  the  quarter  deck,  he  kept  a  good  eye  on  all  gout> 


CARTE  DES  PROVINCES 

NICARAGUA^  COSTA  Hi 


BELLIN'S  HONDURAS. 


they  encountered.     "The  distress  of  my  son,"  he  says,  "grieved 
me  to  the  soul,  and  the  more  when  I  considered  his  tender  age ; 


444  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

for  he  was  but  thirteen  years  old,  and  he  enduring  so  much  toil 
for  so  long  a  time."  "My  brother,"  he  adds  further,  "was  in 
the  ship  that  was  in  the  worst  condition  and  the  most  exposed 
to  danger ;  and  my  grief  on  this  account  was  the  greater  that  I 
brought  him  with  me  against  his  will." 

It  was  no  easy  work  to  make  the  seventy  leagues  from  Cape 
Honduras  to  Cape  Gracios  a  Dios,  and  the  bestowal  of  this 
name  denoted  his  thankfulness  to  God,  when,  after  forty  days 
of  this  strenuous  endeavor,  his  caravels  were  at  last  able  to 
1502.  sep-  round  the  cape,  on  September  12  (or  14).  A  sea- 
board  stretching  away  to  the  south  lay  open  before 
kim9 —  now  known  as  the  Mosquito  Coast.  The  cur 
rent  which  sets  west  so  persistently  here  splits  and  sends  a 
branch  down  this  coast.  So  with  a  "  fair  wind  and  tide,"  as 
he  says,  they  followed  its  varied  scenery  of  crag  and  lowland 
for  more  than  sixty  leagues,  till  they  discovered  a  great  flow 
of  water  coming  out  of  a  river.  It  seemed  to  offer  an  oppor 
tunity  to  replenish  their  casks  and  get  some  store  of  wood. 
On  the  16th  of  September,  they  anchored,  and  sent  their  boats 
to  explore.  A  meeting  of  the  tide  and  the  river's  flow  raised 
later  a  tumultuous  sea  at  the  bar,  just  as  the  boats  were  coming 
out.  The  men  were  unable  to  surmount  the  difficulty,  and 
Loses  a  one  °^  the  boats  was  lost,  with  all  on  board.  Colum- 
boat's  crew,  j^g  recor^e(j  their  misf ortune  in  the  name  which  he 
gave  to  the  river,  El  Rio  del  Desastre.  Still  coasting  onward, 
on  September  25  they  came  to  an  alluring  roadstead  between 
an  island  and  the  main,  where  there  was  everything 
tember2lT  to  enchant  that  verdure  and  fragrance  could  pro 
duce.  He  named  the  spot  The  Garden  (La  Huerta). 
Here,  at  anchor,  they  had  enough  to  occupy  them  for  a  day 
or  two  in  restoring  the  damage  of  the  tempest,  and  in  dry 
ing  their  stores,  which  had  been  drenched  by  the  unceasing 
downpour  of  the  clouds.  The  natives  watched  them  from  the 
shore,  and  made  a  show  of  their  weapons.  The  Spaniards  re 
maining  inactive,  the  savages  grew  more  confident  of  the  pacific 
intent  of  their  visitors,  and  soon  began  swimming  off  to  the 
caravels.  Columbus  tried  the  effect  of  largesses,  refusing  to 
barter,  and  made  gifts  of  the  Spanish  baubles.  Such  gratui 
ties,  however,  created  distrust,  and  every  trinket  was  returned. 
Two  young  girls  had  been  sent  on  board  as  hostages,  while  the 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  445 

Spaniards  were  on  shore  getting  water;  but  even  they  were 
stripped  of  their  Spanish  finery  when  restored  to  their  friends, 
and  every  bit  of  it  was  returned  to  the  givers.  There  seem  to 
be  discordant  statements  by  Columbus  and  in  the  Historic  re 
specting  these  young  women,  and  Columbus  gives  them  a  worse 
character  than  his  chronicler.  When  the  Adelantado  went 
ashore  with  a  notary,  and  this  official  displayed  his  paper  and 
inkhorn,  it  seemed  to  strike  the  wondering  natives  as  a  spell. 
They  fled,  and  returned  with  something  like  a  censer,  character  of 
from  which  they  scattered  the  smoke  as  if  to  dis-  thenafcive8- 
perse  all  baleful  spirits. 

These  unaccustomed  traits  of  the  natives  worked  on  the 
superstitions  of  the  Spaniards.  They  began  to  fancy  they  had 
got  within  an  atmosphere  of  sorceries,  and  Columbus,  thinking 
of  the  two  Indian  maiden  hostages,  was  certain  there  was  a 
spell  of  witchcraft  about  them,  and  he  never  quite  freed  his 
mind  of  this  necromantic  ghost. 

The  old  Indian  whom  Columbus  had  taken  for  a  guide  when 
first  he  touched  the  coast,  having  been  set  ashore  at  Cape 
Gracios  a  Dios,  enriched  with  presents,  Columbus  now  seized 
seven  of  this  new  tribe,  and  selecting  two  of  the  most  intelli 
gent  as  other  guides,  he  let  the  rest  go.  The  seizure  was  greatly 
resented  by  the  tribe,  and  they  sent  emissaries  to  negotiate  for 
the  release  of  the  captives,  but  to  no  effect. 

Departing  on  October  5  from  the  region  which  the  natives 
called  Cariari,  and  where  the  fame  of  Columbus  is  1502i  Octo- 
still  preserved  in  the  Bahia  del  Almirante,  the  ex-  ber*  Cariari> 
plorers  soon  found  the  coast  trending  once  more  towards  the 
east.  They  were  tracking  what  is  now  known  as  the  shore  of 
Costa  Rica.  They  soon  entered  the  large  and  island-studded 
Caribaro  Bay.  Here  the  Spaniards  were  delighted  to  find  the 
natives  wearing  plates  of  gold  as  ornaments.  They  tried  to 
traffic  for  them,  but  the  Indians  were  loath  to  part  with  their 
treasures.  The  natives  intimated  that  there  was  much  Gold  soughfc 


more  of  this  metal  farther  on  at  a  place  called  Ve- 
ragua.  So  the  ships  sailed  on,  October  17,  and  reached  that 
coast.  The  Spaniards  came  to  a  river;  but  the  natives  sent 
defiance  to  them  in  the  blasts  of  their  conch-shells,  while  they 
shook  at  them  their  lances.  Entering  the  tide,  they  splashed 
the  water  towards  their  enemies,  in  token  of  contempt.  Colum- 


BELLINI'S  VERAGUA. 


THE   FOURTH   VOYAGE.  447 

bus's  Indian  guides  soon  pacified  them,  and  a  round  of  barter 
followed,  by  which  seventeen  of  their  gold  disks  were  secured  for 
three  hawks'  bells.  The  intercourse  ended,  however,  in  a  little 
hostile  bout,  during  which  the  Spanish  crossbows  and  lombards 
soon  brought  the  savages  to  obedience. 

Still  the  caravels  went  on.  The  same  scene  of  startled  natives, 
in  defiant  attitude,  soon  soothed  by  the  trinkets  was  repeated 
everywhere.  In  one  place  the  Spaniards  found  what  they  had 
never  seen  before,  a  wall  laid  of  stone  and  lime,  and  Columbus 
began  to  think  of  the  civilized  East  again.  Coast  peoples  are 
always  barbarous,  as  he  says  ;  but  it  is  the  inland  people  who  are 
rich.  As  he  passed  along  this  coast  of  Veragua,  as  the  name  has 
got  to  be  written,  though  his  notary  at  the  time  caught  the  Indian 
pronunciation  as  Cobraba,  his  interpreters  pointed  out  its  vil 
lages,  and  the  chief  one  of  all ;  and  when  they  had  passed  on 
a  little  farther  they  told  him  he  was  sailing  beyond  the  gold 
country.  Columbus  was  not  sure  but  they  were  trying  to  in 
duce  him  to  open  communication  again  with  the  shore,  to  offer 
chances  for  their  escape.  The  seeker  of  the  strait  could  not 
stop  for  gold.  His  vision  led  him  on  to  that  marvelous  land  of 
Ciguare,  of  which  these  successive  native  tribes  told 
him^  situated  ten  days  inland,  and  where  the  people 
reveled  in  gold,  sailed  in  ships,  and  conducted  commerce  in 
spices  and  other  precious  commodities.  The  women  there  were 
decked,  so  they  said,  with  corals  and  pearls.  "I  should  be 
content,"  he  says,  "  if  a  tithe  of  this  which  I  hear  is  true." 
He  even  fancied,  from  all  he  could  understand  of  their  signs 
and  language,  that  these  Ciguare  people  were  as  terrible  in  war 
as  the  Spaniards,  and  rode  on  beasts.  "  They  also  say  that  the 
sea  surrounds  Ciguare,  and  that  ten  days'  journey  from  thence 
is  ^he  river  Ganges."  Hurnboldt  seems  to  think  that  in  all 
this  Columbus  got  a  conception  of  that  great  western  ocean 
which  was  lying  so  much  nearer  to  him  than  he  supposed.  It 
may  be  doubted  if  it  was  quite  so  clear  to  Columbus  as  Hum- 
boldt  thinks  ;  but  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Columbus 
imagined  this  wonderful  region  of  Ciguare  was  half-way  to  the 
Ganges.  If,  as  his  canonizers  fondly  suppose,  he  had  Atthe 
not  mistaken  in  his  visions  an  isthmus  for  a  strait,  he  isthmua- 
might  have  been  prompted  to  cross  the  slender  barrier  which 
now  separated  him  from  his  goal. 


448  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

On  the  2d  of  November,  the  ships  again  anchored  in  a  spa- 
1502.  NO-  cious  harbor,  so  beautiful  in  its  groves  and  fruits, 
vember  2.  an(j  w«t|1  suc]1  deep  water  close  to  the  shore,  that  Co 
lumbus  gave  it  the  name  of  Puerto  Bello  (Porto  Bello), — an 

appellation  which  has  never  left  it.     It   rained  for 

seven  days  while  they  lay  here,  doing  nothing  but 
trading  a  little  with  the  natives  for  provisions.  The  Indians 
offered  no  gold,  and  hardly  any  was  seen.  Starting  once  more, 
Nombre  de  *^e  Spaniards  came  in  sight  of  the  cape  known  since 

as  Nombre  de  Dios,  but  they  were  thwarted  for  a  while 
in  their  attempts  to  pass  it.  They  soon  found  a  harbor,  where 
they  stayed  till  November  23;  then  going  on  again,  they 
secured  anchorage  in  a  basin  so  small  that  the  caravels  were 
placed  almost  beside  the  shore.  Columbus  was  kept  here  by  the 
weather  for  nine  days.  The  basking  alligators  reminded  him 
of  the  crocodiles  of  the  Nile.  The  natives  were  uncommonly 
gentle  and  gracious,  and  provisions  were  plenty.  The  ease 
with  which  the  seamen  could  steal  ashore  at  night  began  to  be 
demoralizing,  leading  to  indignities  at  the  native  houses.  The 
savage  temper  was  at  last  aroused,  and  the  Spanish  revelries 
were  brought  to  an  end  by  an  attack  on  the  ships.  It  ceased, 
as  usual,  after  a  few  discharges  of  the  ships'  guns. 

Columbus  had  not  yet  found  any  deflection  of  that  current 
which  sweeps  in  this  region  towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  He 
had  struggled  against  its  powerful  flow  in  every  stage  of  his 
progress  along  the  coast.  Whether  this  had  brought  him  to 
believe  that  his  vision  of  a  strait  was  delusive  does  not  appear. 
Whether  he  really  knew  that  he  had  actually  joined  his  own 
explorations,  going  east,  to  those  which  Bastidas  had  made 
from  the  west  is  equally  unknown,  though  it  is  possible  he  may 
have  got  an  intimation  of  celestial  and  winged  monsters  from 
the  natives.  If  he  comprehended  it,  he  saw  that  there  could 
be  no  strait,  this  way  at  least.  Bastidas,  as  we  have  seen, 

was  on  board  Bobadilla's  fleet  when  Columbus  lay 
exploration  off  Santo  Domingo.  There  is  a  chance  that  Colum- 

of  this  coast.    ,        ,  .  ,  •.  . 

bus  s  messenger  who  went  ashore  may  have  seen  mm 
and  his  charts,  and  may  have  communicated  some  notes  of  the 
maps  to  the  Admiral.  Some  of  the  companions  of  Bastidas  on 
his  voyage  had  reached  Spain  before  Columbus  sailed,  and 
there  may  have  been  some  knowledge  imparted  in  that  way.  If 
Columbus  knew  the  truth,  he  did  not  disclose  it. 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE,  449 

Porras,  possibly  at  a  later  day,  seems  to  have  been  better 
informed,  or  at  least  he  imparts  more  in  his  narrative  than 
Columbus  does.  He  says  he  saw  in  the  people  of  these  parts 
many  of  the  traits  of  those  of  the  pearl  coast  at  Paria,  and  that 
the  maps,  which  they  possessed,  showed  that  it  was  to  this  point 
that  the  explorations  of  Ojeda  and  Bastidas  had  been  pushed. 

There  were  other  things  that  might  readily  have  made  him 
turn  back,  as  well  as  this  despair  of  finding  a  strait.  Coiumbus 
His  crew  were  dissatisfied  with  leaving  the  gold  of  turns  back< 
Veragua.     His  ships  were  badly  bored  by  the  worms,  and  they 
had  become,  from  this  cause  and  by  reason  of  the  heavy  wea 
ther  which  had  so  mercilessly  followed  them,  more  and  more 
unseaworthy.     So  on   December   5,    1502,    when   he  irm>  De_ 
passed  out  of  the  little  harbor  of  El  Retrete,  he  be-  cember5- 
gan  a  backward  course.     Pretty  soon  the  wind,  which  had  all 
along  faced  him  from  the  east,  blew  strongly  from  the  west, 
checking  him  as  much  going  backward  as  it  had  in  his  onward 
course.     It  seemed  as  if  the  elements  were  turned  against  him. 
The  gale  was  making  sport  of  him,  as  it  veered  in  all  direc 
tions.     It  was  indeed  a  Coast  of  Contrasts  (La  Costa  de  los 
Contrastes),  as  Columbus  called  it.      The  lightning  streaked 
the  skies  continually.     The  thunder  was  appalling.     For  nine 
days  the  little  ships,  strained  at  every  seam,  leaking  at 
every  point  where  the  tropical  sea  worm  had  pierced 
them,  writhed  in  a  struggle  of  death.     At  one  time  a  gigantic 
waterspout  formed  within  sight.      The  sea  surged  around  its 
base.     The  clouds  stooped  to  give  it  force.     It  came  staggering 
and  lunging  towards  the  fragile  barks.    The  crews  exorcised  the 
watery  spirit  by  repeating  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  the  Evangel 
ist,  and  the  crazy  column  passed  on  the  other  side  of  them. 

Added  to  their  peril  through  it  all  were  the  horrors  of  an 
impending  famine.  Their  biscuit  were  revolting  because  of 
the  worms.  They  caught  sharks  for  food. 

At  last,  on  December  17,  the  fleet  reunited,  — for  they  had, 
during  the  gales,  lost  sight  of  each  otheY,  —  and  entered  1502    De_ 
a  harbor,  where  they  found  the  native  cabins  built  in  cember  17« 
the  tree  tops,  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  griffins,  or  some  other  beasts. 
After  further  buffeting  of  the  tempests,  they  finally  Bethiehem 
made  a  harbor  on  the  coast  of  Veragua,  in  a  river  River- 
which  Columbus  named  Santa  Maria  de  Belen  (Bethlehem), 


450  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

it  being  Epiphauy  Day  ;  and  here  at  last  they  anchored  two  of 
the  caravels  011  January  9,  and  the  other  two  on  the  10th 
(1503).  Columbus  had  been  nearly  a  month  in  passing  thirty 
leagues  of  coast.  The  Indians  were  at  first  quieted  in  the 
usual  way,  and  some  gold  was  obtained  by  barter.  The  Span- 
1503.  Jan.  iards  had  not  been  here  long,  however,  when  they 
uary24.  found  themselves  (January  24,  1503)  in  as  much 
danger  by  the  sudden  swelling  of  the  river  as  they  had  been 
at  sea.  It  was  evidently  occasioned  by  continued  falls  of  rain 
in  distant  mountains,  which  they  could  see.  The  caravels  were 
knocked  about  like  cockboats.  The  Admiral's  ship  snapped 
a  mast.  "  It  rained  without  ceasing,"  says  the  Admiral,  re 
cording  his  miseries,  "  until  the  14th  of  February  ;  "  and  dur 
ing  the  continuance  of  the  storm  the  Adelantado  was  sent  on 
a  boat  expedition  to  ascend  the  Veragua  Biver,  three  miles 
along  the  coast,  where  he  was  to  search  for  mines.  The  party 
proceeded  on  February  6  as  far  as  they  could  in  the  boats, 
and  then,  leaving  part  of  the  men  for  a  guard,  and  taking 
guides,  which  the  Quibian  —  that  being  the  name,  as  he  says, 
which  they  gave  to  the  lord  of  the  country  —  had  provided, 
they  reached  a  country  where  the  soil  to  their  eyes  seemed  full 
of  particles  of  gold.  Columbus  says  that  he  afterwards  learned 
that  it  was  a  device  of  the  crafty  Quibian  to  conduct  them 
to  the  mines  of  a  rival  chief,  while  his  own  were  richer  and 
nearer,  all  of  which,  nevertheless,  did  not  escape  the 
keen  Spanish  scent  for  gold.  Bartholomew  made 


other  excursions  along  the  coast  ;  but  nowhere  did  it 
seem  to  him  that  gold  was  as  plenty  as  at  Veragua. 

Columbus  now  reverted  to  his  old  fancies.  He  remembered 
that  Josephus  has  described  the  getting  of  gold  for  the  Temple 
of  Jerusalem  from  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  and  was  not  this 
the  very  spot  ?  "  Josephus  thinks  that  this  gold  of  the  Chron- 
Mmesof  ^es  an(^  ^e  Book  of  Kings  was  found  in  the  Aurea," 
Aurea.  j^  savs>  "  jf  ft  were  so?  J  contend  that  these  mines 
of  the  Aurea  are  identical  with  those  of  Veragua.  David  in 
his  will  left  3,000  quintals  of  Indian  gold  to  Solomon,  to  assist 
in  building  the  Temple,  and  according  to  Josephus  it  came 
from  these  lands."  He  had  seen,  as  he  says,  more  promise  of 
gold  here  in  two  days  than  in  Espanola  in  four  years.  It  was 
very  easy  now  to  dwarf  his  Ophir  at  Hayna  I  Those  other 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  451 

riches  were  left  to  those  who  had  wronged  him.  The  pearls  of 
the  Paria  coast  might  be  the  game  of  the  common  adventurer. 
Here  was  the  princely  domain  of  the  divinely  led  discoverer, 
who  was  rewarded  at  last ! 

A  plan  was  soon  made  of  founding  a  settlement  to  hold  the 
region  and  gain  information,  while  Columbus  returned  Coiumbus 
to   Spain  for  supplies.      Eighty  men  were  to   stay.   makel°set- 
They  began  to  build  houses.     They  divided  the  stock  tlement- 
of  provisions  and  munitions,  and  transferred  that  intended  for 
the  colony  to  one  of  the  caravels,  which  was  to  be  left  with 
them.     Particular  pains  were  taken  to  propitiate  the  natives  by 
presents,  and  the  Quibian  was  regaled  with  delicacies  and  gifts. 
When  this  was  done,  it  was  found  that  a  dry  season  had  come 
on,  and  there  was  not  water  enough  on  the  bar  to  float  the 
returning  caravels. 

Meanwhile  the  Quibiaii  had  formed  a  league  to  exterminate 
the  intruders.     Columbus  sent  a  brave  fellow,  Diego 
Menclez,  to  see  what  he  could   learn.     He  found  a  dez!°ex-en" 
force  of  savages  advancing  to  the  attack ;    but  this  E 
single  Spaniard  disconcerted  them,  and  they  put  off  the  plan. 
Again,  with  but  a  single  companion,  one  Rodrigo  de  Escobar, 
Mendez  boldly  went  into  the  Quibian's  village,  and  came  back 
alive  to  tell  the  Admiral  of  all  the  preparations  for  war  which 
he  had  seen,  or  which  were  inferred  at  least.    The  news  excited 
the  quick  spirits  of  the  Adelantado,  and,  following  a  plan  of 
Mendez,  he  at  once  started  (March  30)  with  an  armed  force. 
He  came  with  such  celerity  to  the  cacique's  village  that  the 
savages  were  not  prepared  for  their  intrusion,  and  by  a  rapid 
artifice  he  surrounded  the  lodge  of  the  Quibian,  and  The  Quibian 
captured  him  with  fifty  of  his  followers.    The  Adelan-  taken> 
tado  sent  him,  bound  hand  and  foot,  and  under  escort,  down  the 
river,  in  charge  of  Juan  Sanchez,  who  rather  resented  any  inti 
mation  of  the  Adelantado  to  be  careful  of  his  prisoner.     As 
the  boat  neared  the  mouth  of  the  river,  her  commander  yielded 
to  the  Quibian's  importunities  to  loosen  his  bonds,  when  the 
chief,  watching  his  opportunity,  slipped  overboard  and 
dove  to  the  bottom.     The  night  was  dark,  and  he  was 
not  seen  when  he  came  to  the  surface,  and  was  not  pursued. 
The  other  prisoners  were  delivered  to  the  Admiral.    The  Ade 
lantado  meanwhile  had  sacked  the  cacique's  cabin,  and  brought 
away  its  golden  treasures. 


452  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Columbus,  confident  that  the  Quibian  had  been  drowned, 
and  that  the  chastisement  which  had  been  given  his  tribe  was 
a  wholesome  lesson,  began  again  to  arrange  for  his  departure. 
As  the  river  had  risen  a  little,  he  succeeded  in  getting  his  light 
ened  caravels  over  the  bar,  and  anchored  them  outside,  where 
their  lading  was  again  put  on  board.  To  offer  some  last  in- 
1503.  junctions  and  to  get  water,  Columbus,  on  April  6,  sent 

April  a  a  k^  jn  commanci  Of  Dieg0  Tristan,  to  the  Adelan- 
tado,  who  was  to  be  left  in  command.  When  the  boat  got  in, 
Tristan  found  the  settlement  in  great  peril.  The  Quibian,  who 
The  seta  ^a<^  reac^e^  *^e  snore  in  safety  after  his  adventure,  had 
Sed*"  quickly  organized  an  attacking  party,  and  had  fallen 
upon  the  settlement.  The  savages  were  fast  getting 
their  revenge,  for  the  unequal  contest  had  lasted  nearly  three 
hours,  when  the  Adelantado  and  Mendez,  rallying  a  small 
force,  rushed  so  impetuously  upon  them  that,  with  the  aid  of  a 
fierce  bloodhound,  the  native  host  was  scattered  in  a  trice. 
Only  one  Spaniard  had  been  killed  and  eight  wounded,  includ 
ing  the  Adelantado ;  but  the  rout  of  the  Indians  was  complete. 

It  was  while  these  scenes  were  going  on  that  Tristan  arrived 
in  his  boat  opposite  the  settlement.  He  dallied  till  the  affair 
was  ended,  and  then  proceeded  up  the  river  to  get  some  water. 
Those  on  shore  warned  him  of  the  danger  of  ambuscade ;  but 
he  persisted.  When  he  had  got  well  beyond  the  support  of 
Tristan  *ne  settlement,  his  boat  was  beset  with  a  shower  of 
murdered,  javelins  from  the  overhanging  banks  on  both  sides, 
while  a  cloud  of  canoes  attacked  him  front  and  rear.  But  a 
single  Spaniard  escaped  by  diving,  and  brought  the  tale  of 
disaster  to  his  countrymen. 

The  condition  of  the  settlement  was  now  alarming.  The 
Indians,  encouraged  by  their  success  in  overcoming  the  boat, 
once  more  gathered  to  attack  the  little  group  of  "  encroaching 
Spaniards,"  as  Columbus  could  but  call  them.  The  houses 
which  sheltered  them  were  so  near  the  thick  forest  that  the 
savages  approached  them  on  all  sides  under  shelter.  The  woods 
rang  with  their  yells  and  with  the  blasts  of  their  conch-shells. 
The  Spaniards  got,  in  their  panic,  beyond  the  control  of  the 
Adelantado.  They  prepared  to  take  the  caravel  and  leave  the 
river ;  but  it  was  found  she  would  not  float  over  the  bar.  They 
then  sought  to  send  a  boat  to  the  Admiral,  lying  outside,  to  pre- 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  453 

vent  his  sailing  without  them ;  but  the  current  and  tide  com 
mingling  made  such  a  commotion  on  the  bar  that  no  boat  could 
livo  in  the  sea.  The  bodies  of  Tristan  and  his  men  came  float 
ing  down  stream,  with  carrion  crows  perched  upon  them  at  their 
ghastly  feast.  It  seemed  as  if  nature  visited  them  with  premoni 
tions.  At  last  the  Adelantado  brought  a  sufficient  number  of 
men  into  such  a  steady  mood  that  they  finally  constructed  out 
of  whatever  they  could  get  some  sort  of  a  breastwork  near  the 
shore,  where  the  ground  was  open.  Here  they  could  use  their 
matchlocks  and  have  a  clear  sweep  about  them.  They  placed 
behind  this  bulwark  two  small  falconets,  and  prepared  to  de 
fend  themselves.  They  were  in  this  condition  for  four  days. 
Their  provisions,  however,  began  to  run  short,  and  every  Span 
iard  who  dared  to  forage  was  sure  to  be  cut  off.  Their  ammu 
nition,  too,  was  not  abundant. 

Meanwhile  Columbus  was  in  a  similar  state  of  anxiety.  "  The 
Admiral  was  suffering  from  a  severe  fever,"  he  says,  "  and 
worn  with  fatigue."  His  ships  were  lying  at  anchor 

.  ,        ,       ,  .11          •   i        PI-  i  i  •        i  Columbus  at 

outside  the  bar,  with  the  risk  of  being  obliged  to  put  to  anchor  out- 

i          tv       i  t  m    •  ,       side  the  bar. 

sea  at  any  moment,  to  work  off  a  lee  shore.  Tristan  s 
prolonged  absence  harassed  him.  Another  incident  was  not  less 
ominous.  The  companions  of  the  Quibian  were  confined  on 
board  in  the  forecastle ;  and  it  was  the  intention  to  take  them 
to  Spain  as  hostages,  as  it  was  felt  they  would  be,  for  the  col 
ony  left  behind.  Those  in  charge  of  them  had  become  care 
less  about  securing  the  hatchway,  and  one  night  they  failed 
to  chain  it,  trusting  probably  to  the  watchfulness  of  certain 
sailors  who  slept  upon  the  hatch.  The  savages,  finding  a  foot 
ing  upon  some  ballast  which  they  piled  up  beneath,  suddenly 
threw  off  the  cover,  casting  the  sleeping  sailors  violently 
aside,  and  before  the  guard  could  be  called  the  greater  part 
of  the  prisoners  had  jumped  into  the  sea  and  escaped.  Such 
as  were  secured  were  thrust  back,  but  the  next  morning  it  was 
found  that  they  all  had  strangled  themselves. 

After  such  manifestations  of  ferocious  determination,  Colum 
bus  began  to  be  further  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  his  bro 
ther's  companions  and  of  Tristan's.  For  days  a  tossing  surf 
had  made  an  impassable  barrier  between  him  and  the  shore. 
He  had  but  one  boat,  and  he  did  not  dare  to  risk  it  in  an  attempt 


454  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

to  land.  Finally,  his  Sevillian  pilot,  Pedro  Ledesma,  offered 
Ledesma's  *°  brave  the  dangers  by  swimming,  if  the  boat  would 
exploit.  take  him  ciose  to  the  surf.  The  trial  was  made  ;  the 
man  committed  himself  to  the  surf,  and  by  his  strength  and 
skill  so  surmounted  wave  after  wave  that  he  at  length  reached 
stiller  water,  and  was  seen  to  mount  the  shore.  In  due  time  he 
was  again  seen  on  the  beach,  and  plunging  in  once  more,  was 
equally  successful  in  passing  the  raging  waters,  and  was  picked 
up  by  the  boat.  He  had  a  sad  tale  to  tell  the  Admiral.  It 
was  a  story  of  insubordination,  a  powerless  Adelantado,  and  a 
frantic  eagerness  to  escape  somehow.  Ledesma  said  that  the 
men  were  preparing  canoes  to  come  off  to  the  ships,  since  their 
caravel  was  unable  to  pass  the  bar. 

There  was  longr  consideration  in  these  hours  of  dishearten- 

O 

ment ;  but  the  end  of  it  was  a  decision  to  rescue  the  colony 
and  abandon  the  coast.  The  winds  never  ceased  to  be  high,  and 

Columbus' s  ships,  in  their  weakened  condition,  were 
abandon  the  only  kept  afloat  by  care  and  vigilance.  The  loss  of 

the  boat's  crew  threw  greater  burdens  and  strains 
upon  those  who  were  left.  It  was  impossible  while  the  surf 
lasted  to  send  in  his  only  boat,  and  quite  as  impossible  for  the 
fragile  canoes  of  his  colony  to  brave  the  dangers  of  the  bar  in 
coming  out.  There  was  nothing  for  Columbus  to  do  but  to  hold 
to  his  anchor  as  long  as  he  could,  and  wait. 

Our  pity  for  the  man  is  sometimes  likely  to  unfit  us  to  judge 
his  own  record.  Let  us  try  to  believe  what  he  says  of  himself, 
and  watch  him  in  his  delirium.  "  Groaning  with  exhaustion," 
he  says,  "  I  fell  asleep  in  the  highest  part  of  the  ship,  and 
Columbus  in  heard  a  compassionate  voice  address  me."  It  bade 
hearsa"  ^m  ^e  °^  g°°&  cheer,  and  take  courage  in  the  ser 
vice.  vice  o£  Qod  j  What  the  God  of  all  had  done  for 
Moses  and  David  would  be  done  for  him !  As  we  read  the 
long  report  of  this  divine  utterance,  as  Columbus  is  careful  to 
record  it,  we  learn  that  the  Creator  was  aware  of  his  servant's 
name  resounding  marvelously  throughout  the  earth.  We  find, 
however,  that  the  divine  belief  curiously  reflected  the  confi 
dence  of  Columbus  that  it  was  India,  and  not  America,  that 
had  been  revealed.  "  Remember  David,"  said  the  Voice,  "  how 
he  was  a  shepherd,  and  was  made  a  king.  Remember  Abraham, 
how  he  was  a  hundred  when  he  begat  Isaac,  and  that  there 


THE  FOURTH  VOYAGE.  455 

is  youth  still  for  the  aged."  Columbus  adds  that  when  the 
Voice  chided  him  he  wept  for  his  errors,  and  that  he  heard  it 
all  as  in  a  trance. 

The  obvious  interpretation  of  all  this  is  either  that  by  the 
record  Columbus  intended  a  fable  to  impress  the  sovereigns, 
for  whom  he  was  writing,  or  that  he  was  so  moved  to  halluci 
nations  that  he  believed  what  he  wrote.  The  hero  worship  of 
Irving  decides  the  question  easily.  "Such  an  idea,"  says 
Irving,  referring  to  the  argument  of  deceit,  and  forgetting  the 
Admiral's  partiality  for  such  practices,  "  is  inconsistent  with 
the  character  of  Columbus.  In  recalling  a  dream,  one  is  uncon 
sciously  apt  to  give  it  a  little  coherency."  Irving's  plea  is  that 
it  was  a  mere  dream,  which  was  mistaken  by  Columbus,  in  his 
feverish  excitement,  for  a  revelation.  "  The  artless  manner," 
adds  that  biographer,  "  in  which  he  mingles  the  rhapsodies  and 
dreams  of  his  imagination  with  simple  facts  and  sound  practical 
observations,  pouring  them  forth  with  a  kind  of  Scriptural 
solemnity  and  poetry  of  language,  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
illustrations  of  a  character  richly  compounded  of  extraordinary 
and  apparently  contradictory  elements."  We  may  perhaps  ask, 
Was  Irving's  hero  a  deceiver,  or  was  he  mad  ?  The  chances 
seem  to  be  that  the  whole  vision  was  simply  the  product  of  one 
of  those  fits  of  aberration  which  in  these  later  years  were  no 
strangers  to  Columbus's  existence.  His  mind  was  not  infre 
quently,  amid  disappointments  and  distractions,  in  no  fit  condi 
tion  to  ward  off  hallucination. 

Humboldt  speaks  of  Columbus's  letter  describing  this  vision 
as  showing  the  disordered  mind  of  a  proud  soul  weighed  down 
with  dead  hopes.  He  has  no  fear  that  the  strange  mixture  of 
force  and  weakness,  of  pride  and  touching  humility,  which 
accompanies  these  secret  contortions  will  ever  impress  the  world 
with  other  feelings  than  those  of  commiseration. 

It  is  a  hard  thing  for  any  one,  seeking  to  do  justice  to  the 
agonies  of  such  spirits,  to  measure  them  in  the  calmness  of  better 
days.  "  Let  those  who  are  accustomed  to  slander  and  asper 
sion  ask,  while  they  sit  in  security  at  home,  Why  dost  thou 
not  do  so  and  so  under  such  circumstances  ? "  says  Columbus 
himself.  It  is  far  easier  to  let  one's  self  loose  into  the  vortex 
and  be  tossed  with  sympathy.  But  if  four  centuries  have  done 
anything  for  us,  they  ought  to  have  cleared  the  air  of  its  mirages. 
What  is  pitiable  may  not  be  noble. 


456  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  Voice  was,  of  course,  associated  in  Columbus's  mind  with 
The  colony  ^e  good  weather  which  followed.  During  this  a  raft 
embark.  wag  ma(je  of  ^wo  canoes  lashed  together  beneath  a 
platform,  and,  using  this  for  ferrying,  all  the  stores  were  floated 
off  safely  to  the  ships,  so  that  in  the  end  nothing  was  left  be 
hind  but  the  decaying  and  stranded  caravel.  This  labor  was 
done  under  the  direction  of  Diego  Mendez,  whom  the  Admiral 
rewarded  by  kissing  him  on  the  cheek,  and  by  giving  him  com 
mand  of  Tristan's  caravel,  which  was  the  Admiral's  flagship. 

It  is  a  strange  commentary  on  the  career  and  fame  of  Co 
lumbus  that  the  name  of  this  disastrous  coast  should  represent 
him  to  this  day  in  the  title  of  his  descendant,  the  Duke  of 
Veragua.  Never  a  man  turned  the  prow  of  his  ship  from  scenes 
which  he  would  sooner  forget,  with  more  sorrow  and  relief, 
than  Columbus,  in  the  latter  days  of  April,  1503,  with 
Columbus  '  his  enfeebled  crews  and  his  crazy  hulks,  stood  away, 
as  he  thought,  for  Espanola.  And  yet  three  months 
later,  and  almost  in  the  same  breath  with  which  he  had  re 
hearsed  these  miseries,  with  that  obliviousness  which  so  often 
caught  his  errant  mind,  he  wrote  to  his  sovereigns  that  "  there 
is  not  in  the  world  a  country,  whose  inhabitants  are  more 
timid ;  added  to  which  there  is  a  good  harbor,  a  beautiful  river, 
and  the  whole  place  is  capable  of  being  easily  put  into  a  state 
of  defense.  Your  people  that  may  come  here,  if  they  should 
wish  to  become  masters  of  the  products  of  other  lands,  will 
have  to  take  them  by  force,  or  retire  empty-handed.  In  this 
country  they  will  simply  have  to  trust  their  persons  in  the 
hands  of  a  savage."  The  man  was  mad. 

It  was  easterly  that  Columbus  steered  when  his  ships  swung 
round  to  their  destined  course.  It  was  not  without  fear  and 
even  indignation  that  his  crews  saw  what  they  thought  a  pur 
pose  to  sail  directly  for  Spain  in  the  sorry  plight  of  the  ships. 
Mendez,  indeed,  who  commanded  the  Admiral's  own  ship,  says 
"  they  thought  to  reach  Spain."  The  Admiral,  however,  seems 
to  have  had  two  purposes.  He  intended  to  run  eastward  far 
enough  to  allow  for  the  currents,  when  he  should  finally  head 
for  Santo  Domingo.  He  mtended  also  to  disguise  as  much  as 
he  could  the  route  back,  for  fear  that  others  would  avail  them 
selves  of  his  crew's  knowledge  to  rediscover  these  golden  coasts. 
He  remembered  how  the  companions  of  his  Paria  voyage  had 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  457 

led  other  expeditions  to  that  region  of  pearls.  He  is  said  also 
to  have  taken  from  his  crew  all  their  memoranda  of  the  voyage, 
so  that  there  would  be  no  such  aid  available  to  guide  others. 
"  None  of  them  can  explain  whither  I  went,  nor  whence  I  came," 
he  says.  "  They  do  not  know  the  way  to  return  thither." 

By  the  time  he  reached  Puerto  Bello,  one  of  his  caravels  had 
become  so  weakened  by  the  boring  worms  that  he  had  At  Puerto 
to  abandon  her  and  crowd  his  men  into  the  two  re-  Bell°' 
maining  vessels.    His  crews  became  clamorous  when  he  reached 
the  Gulf  of  Darien,  where  he  thought  it  prudent  to  AttheGuif 
abandon  his  easterly  course  and  steer  to  the  north.   of  Danen- 
It  was  now  May  1.      He  hugged  the  wind  to  overcome  the 
currents,  but  when  he  sighted  some  islands  to  the  westward 
of  Espanola,  on  the  10th,  it  was  evident  that  the  cur-  1503    May 
rents  had  been  bearing  him  westerly  all  the  while.   m 
They  were  still  drifting  him  westerly,  when  he  found  himself, 
on  May  30,  among  the  islands  on  the    Cuban  coast  ^^ 
which  he  had  called  The  Gardens.     "  I  had  reached,"   the  Cuban 
he  says  in  his  old  delusion,  "  the  province  of  Mago, 
which  is  contiguous  to  that  of  Cathay."      Here  the  ships  an 
chored  to  give  the  men  refreshment.      The  labor  of  keeping 
the  vessels  free  from  water  had  been  excessive,  and  in  a  secure 
roadstead  it   could   now  be  carried   on  with   some  respite   of 
toil,  if  the  weather  would  only  hold  good.      This  was  not  to 
be,  however.     A  gale  ensued  in  which  they  lost  their  anchors. 
The  two  caravels,  moreover,  sustained  serious  damage  by  colli 
sion.     All  the  anchors  of  the  Admiral's  ship  had  gone  but  one, 
and  though  that  held,  the  cable  nearly  wore  asunder.     After 
six  days   of   this  stormy  weather,   he   dared    at  last  to  crawl 
along  the  coast.     Fortunately,  he  got  some  native  provisions  at 
one  place,  which  enabled  him  to  feed  his  famished  men.     The 
currents    and    adverse   winds,  however,  proved   too   much   for 
the  power  of  his  ships  to  work  to  windward.    They  were  all  the 
while  in  danger  of  foundering.     "  With  three  pumps  and  the 
use  of   pots   and  kettles,"  he   says,   "  we    could  scarcely  clear 
the  water  that  came  into  the  ship,  there  being  no  remedy  but 
this  for  the   mischief  done  by  the  ship  worm."     He 
reluctantly,  therefore,  bore  away  for  Jamaica,  where,   23.  Reaches 
on  June  23,  he  put  into  Puerto  Buono  (Dry  Harbor). 
Finding  neither  water  nor  food  here,  he  went  on  the  next  day 


458  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

to  Port  San  Gloria,  known  in  later  days  as  Don  Christopher's 
Cove.  Here  he  found  it  necessary,  a  little  later  (July  23  and 
1503.  July,  August  12),  to  run  his  sinking  ships,  one  after  the 
nKips  other,  aground,  but  he  managed  to  place  them  side  by 
stranded.  s^  SQ  fa^  tney  CQul(j  fo  lashed  together.  They 

soon  filled  with  the  tide.  Cabins  were  built  on  the  forecastles 
and  sterns  to  live  in,  and  bulwarks  of  defense  were  reared  as 
best  they  could  be  along  the  vessels'  waists.  Columbus  now 
took  the  strictest  precautions  to  prevent  his  men  wandering 
ashore,  for  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  no  indignity 
should  be  offered  the  natives  while  they  were  in  such  hazardous 
and  almost  defenseless  straits. 

It  became  at  once  a  serious  question  how  to  feed  his  men. 
Whatever  scant  provisions  remained  on  board  the  stranded  cara 
vels  were  spoiled.  His  immediate  savage  neighbors  supplied 
them  with  cassava  bread  and  other  food  for  a  while,  but  they 
had  no  reserved  stores  to  draw  upon,  and  these  sources  were 
soon  exhausted. 

Diego  Mendez  now  offered,  with  three  men,  carrying  goods 
Mendez  to  barter,  to  make  a  circuit  of  the  island,  so  that 
for1the°cSn-  ne  could  reach  different  caciques,  with  whom  he  could 
pany.  bargain  for  the  preparation  and  carriage  of  food  to 

the  Spaniards.  As  he  concluded  his  successive  impromptu 
agreements  with  cacique  after  cacique,  he  sent  a  man  back 
loaded  with  what  he  could  carry,  to  acquaint  the  Admiral,  and 
let  him  prepare  for  a  further  exchange  of  trinkets.  Finally, 
Mendez,  left  without  a  companion,  still  went  on,  getting  some 
Indian  porters  to  help  him  from  place  to  place.  In  this  way 
he  reached  the  eastern  end  of  the  island,  where  he  ingratiated 
himself  with  a  powerful  cacique,  and  was  soon  on  excellent 
terms  with  him.  From  this  chieftain  he  got  a  canoe  with 
natives  to  paddle,  and  loading  it  with  provisions,  he  skirted 
westerly  along  the  coast,  until  he  reached  the  Spaniards'  har 
bor.  His  mission  bade  fair  to  have  accomplished  its  purpose, 
and  provisions  came  in  plentifully  for  a  while  under  the  ar 
rangements  which  he  had  made. 

Columbus's  next  thought  was  to  get  word,  if  possible,  to 
Ovando,  at  Espanola,  so  that  the  governor  could  send  a  vessel 
to  rescue  them.  Columbus  proposed  to  Mendez  that  he  should 
attempt  the  passage  with  the  canoe  in  which  he  had  returned 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  459 

from  his  expedition.     Mendez  pictured  the  risks  of  going  forty 
leagues  in  these  treacherous  seas  in  a  frail  canoe,  and  intimated 
that  the  Admiral  had  better  make  trial  of  the  courage  of  the 
whole  company  first.     He  said  that  if  no  one  else  offered  to  go 
he  would  shame  them  by  his  courage,  as  he  had  more  than  once 
done  before.     So  the  company  were  assembled,  and  Columbus 
made  public  the  proposition.     Every  one  hung  back 
from  the  hazards,  and  Mendez  won  his  new  triumph,  pares  to^go 
as  he  had  supposed  he  would.     He  then  set  to  work 
fitting  the  canoe  for  the  voyage.     He  put  a  keel  to  her.     He 
built  up  her  sides  so  that  she  could  better  ward  off  the  seas,  and 
rigged  a  mast  and  sail.     She  was  soon  loaded  with  the  neces 
sary  provisions  for  himself,  one  other  Spaniard,  and  the  six. 
Indians  who  were  to  ply  the  paddles. 

The  Admiral,  while  the  preparations  were  making,  drew  up 
a  letter  to  his  sovereigns,  which  it  was  intended  that  Mendez, 
after  arranging  with  Ovando  for  the  rescue,  should 
bear  himself  to  Spain  by  the  first  opportunity.     At  7.   Letter 
least  it  is  the  reasonable  assumption  of  Humboldt  that  to  the  sover- 
this  is  the  letter  which  has  come  down  to  us  dated 
July  7,  1503. 

It  is  not  known  that  this  epistle  was  printed  at  the  time, 
though  manuscript  copies  seem  to  have  circulated.  An  Italian 
version  of  it  was,  however,  printed  at  Venice  a  year  before 
Columbus  died.  The  original  Spanish  text  was  not  known  to 
scholars  till  Navarrete,  having  discovered  in  the  king's  library 
at  Madrid  an  early  transcript  of  it,  printed  it  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  Ooleccion.  It  is  the  document  usually  referred  to,  from 
the  title  of  Morelli's  reprint  (1810)  of  the  Italian  Lattera 
text,  as  the  Lettera  rarissima  di  Oristoforo  Colombo.  rarissima- 
This  letter  is  even  more  than  his  treatise  on  the  prophets  a  sor 
rowful  index  of  his  wandering  reason.  In  parts  it  is  the  merest 
jumble  of  hurrying  thoughts,  with  no  plan  or  steady  purpose  in 
view.  It  is  in  places  well  calculated  to  arouse  the  deepest  pity. 
It  was,  of  course,  avowedly  written  at  a  venture,  inasmuch  as 
the  chance  of  its  reaching  the  hands  of  his  sovereigns  was  a 
very  small  one.  "  I  send  this  letter,"  he  says,  "  by  means  of 
and  by  the  hands  of  Indians  ;  it  will  be  a  miracle  if  it  reaches 
its  destination." 


460  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

He  not  only  goes  back  over  the  adventures  of  the  present 
expedition,  in  a  recital  which  has  been  not  infrequently  quoted 
in  previous  pages,  but  he  reverts  gloomily  to  the  more  distant 
past.  He  lingers  on  the  discouragements  of  his  first  years  in 
Spain.  "  Every  one  to  whom  the  enterprise  was  mentioned," 
he  says  of  those  days,  "  treated  it  as  ridiculous,  but  now  there 
is  not  a  man,  down  to  the  very  tailors,  who  does  not  beg  to  be 
allowed  to  become  a  discoverer."  He  remembers  the  neglect 
which  followed  upon  the  first  flush  of  indignation  when  he  re 
turned  to  Spain  in  chains.  "  The  twenty  years'  service  through 
which  I  have  passed  with  so  much  toil  and  danger  have  profited 
me  nothing,  and  at  this  very  day  I  do  not  possess  a  roof  in 
Spain  that  I  can  call  my  own.  If  I  wish  to  eat  or  sleep  I  have 
nowhere  to  go  but  to  a  low  tavern,  and  most  times  lack  where 
with  to  pay  the  bill.  Another  anxiety  wrings  my  very  heart 
strings,  when  I  think  of  my  son  Diego,  whom  I  have  left  an 
orphan  in  Spain,  stripped  of  the  house  and  property  which  is 
due  to  him  on  my  account,  although  I  had  looked  upon  it  as  a 
certainty  that  your  Majesties,  as  just  and  grateful  princes,  would 
restore  it  to  him  in  all  respects  with  increase." 

"  I  was  twenty-eight  years  old,"  he  says  again,  "  when  I 
came  into  your  Highnesses'  services,  and  now  I  have  not  a  hair 
upon  me  that  is  not  gray,  my  body  is  infirm,  and  all  that  was 
left  to  me,  as  well  as  to  my  brother,  has  been  taken  away  and 
sold,  even  to  the  frock  that  I  wore,  to  my  great  dishonor." 

And  then,  referring  to  his  present  condition,  he  adds :  "  Soli 
tary  in  my  trouble,  sick,  and  in  daily  expectation  of  death,  I 
am  surrounded  by  millions  of  hostile  savages,  full  of  cruelty. 
Weep  for  me,  whoever  has  charity,  truth,  and  justice ! " 

He  next  works  over  in  his  mind  the  old  geographical  prob 
lems.  He  recalls  his  calculation  of  an  eclipse  in  1494,  when  he 
supposed,  in  his  error,  that  he  had  "  sailed  twenty-four  degrees 
westward  in  nine  hours."  He  recalls  the  stories  that  he  had 
heard  on  the  Veragua  coast,  and  thinks  that  he  had  known  it 
all  before  from  books.  Marinus  had  come  near  the  truth,  he 
gives  out,  and  the  Portuguese  have  proved  that  the  Indies  in 
Ethiopia  is,  as  Marinus  had  said,  four  and  twenty  degrees  from 
the  equinoctial  line.  "  The  world  is  but  small,"  he  sums  up ; 
"  out  of  seven  divisions  of  it,  the  dry  part  occupies  six,  and  the 
seventh  is  entirely  covered  by  water.  I  say  that  the  world  is 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  461 

not  so  large  as  vulgar  opinion  makes  it,  and  that  one  degree 
from  the  equinoctial  line  measures  fifty-six  miles  and  two  thirds, 
and  this  may  be  proved  to  a  nicety." 

And  then,  in  his  thoughts,  he  turns  back  to  his  quest  for 
gold,  just  as  he  had  done  in  action  at  Darien,  when  in  despair 
he  gave  up  the  search  for  a  strait.     It  was  gold,  to  Coiumbus 
his  mind,  that  could  draw  souls  from  purgatory.     He  on  gold> 
exclaims :  "  Gold  is  the  most  precious  of  all  commodities.    Gold 
constitutes  treasure,  and  he  who  possesses  it  has  all  he  needs  in 
this  world,  as  also  the  means  of  rescuing  souls  from  purgatory, 
and  restoring  them  to  the  enjoyment  of  paradise." 

Then  his  hopes  swell  with  the  vision  of  that  wealth  which  he 
thought  he  had  found,  and  would  yet  return  to.  He  alone  had 
the  clues  to  it,  which  he  had  concealed  from  others.  "  I  can 
safely  assert  that  to  my  mind  my  people  returning  to  Spain  are 
the  bearers  of  the  best  news  that  ever  was  carried  to  Spain. 
...  I  had  certainly  foreseen  how  things  would  be.  I  think 
more  of  this  opening  for  commerce  than  of  all  that  has  been 
done  in  the  Indies.  This  is  not  a  child  to  be  left  to  the  care  of 
a  stepmother." 

These  were  some  of  the  thoughts,  in  large  part  tumultuous, 
incoherent,  dispirited,  harrowing,  weakening,  and  sad,  penned 
within  sound  of  the  noise  of  Mendez's  preparations,  and  dis 
closing  an  exultant  and  bewildered  being,  singularly  compounded. 

This  script  was  committed  to  Mendez,  beside  one  addressed 
to  Ovando,  and  another  to  his  friend  in  Spain,  Father  Gorricio, 
to  whom  he  imparts  some  of  the  same  frantic  expectations. 
"  If  my  voyage  will  turn  out  as  favorable  to  my  health,"  he  says, 
"  and  to  the  tranquillity  of  my  house,  as  it  is  likely  to  be  for  the 
glory  of  my  royal  masters,  I  shall  live  long." 

Mendez  started  bravely.     He  worked  along  the  coast  of  the 
island   towards   its   eastern  end ;    not  without  peril,  Mendez 
however,  both  from  the  sea  and  from  the   Indians.   start8' 
Finally,  his  party  fell  captives  to  a  startled  cacique ;  but  while 
the  savages  were  disputing  over  a  division  of  the  spoils,  Mendez 
succeeded  in  slipping  back  to  the  canoe,  and,  putting  off  alone, 
paddled  it  back  to  the  stranded  ships. 

Another  trial  was  made  at  once,  with  larger  preparation.  A 
second  canoe  was  added  to  the  expedition,  and  the  charge  of 


462  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

this  was  given  to  Bartholomew  Fiesco,  a  Genoese,  who  had 
Mendez  commanded  one  of  the  caravels.  The  daring  adven- 
starts  again.  ^urers  started  again  with  an  armed  party  under  the 
Adelantado  following  them  along  the  shore. 

The  land  and  boat  forces  reached  the  end  of  the  island  with 
out  molestation,  and  then,  bidding  each  other  farewell,  the 
canoes  headed  boldly  away  from  land,  and  were  soon  lost  to  the 
sight  of  the  Adelantado  in  the  deepening  twilight.  The  land 
party  returned  to  the  Admiral  without  adventure.  There  was 
little  now  for  the  poor  company  to  do  but  to  await  the  return 
of  Fiesco,  who  had  been  directed  to  come  back  at  once  and 
satisfy  the  Admiral  that  Mendez  had  safely  accomplished  his 
mission. 

Many  days  passed,  and  straining  eyes  were  directed  along  the 
shore  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  Fiesco' s  canoe ;  but  it  came  not. 
There  was  not  much  left  to  allay  fear  or  stifle  disheartenment. 
The  cramped  quarters  of  the  tenements  on  the  hulks,  the  bad 
food  which  the  men  were  forced  to  depend  upon,  and  the  vain 
watchings  soon  produced  murmurs  of  discontent,  which  it 
needed  but  the  captious  spirit  of  a  leader  to  convert  into  the 
turmoil  of  revolt.  Such  a  gatherer  of  sedition  soon  appeared. 
The  revolt  There  were  in  the  company  two  brothers,  Francisco 
ofporras.  ^  porraS)  wno  had.  commanded  one  of  the  vessels, 
and  Diego  de  Porras,  who  had,  as  we  have  seen,  been  joined  to 
the  expedition  to  check  off  the  Admiral's  accounts  of  treasures 
acquired.  The  very  espionage  of  his  office  was  an  offense  to 
the  Admiral.  It  was  through  the  caballing  of  these  two  men 
that  the  alien  spirits  of  the  colony  found  in  one  of  them  at  last 
a  determined  actor.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover  how  far  the  accu 
sations  against  the  Admiral,  which  these  men  now  began  to 
dwell  upon,  were  generally  believed.  It  served  the  leaders' 
purposes  to  have  it  appear  that  Columbus  was  in  reality  ban 
ished  from  Spain,  and  had  no  intention  of  returning  thither  till 
Mendez  and  Fiesco  had  succeeded  in  making  favor  for  him  at 
Court ;  and  that  it  was  upon  such  a  mission  that  these  lieuten 
ants  had  been  sent.  It  was  therefore  necessary,  if  those  who 
were  thus  cruelly  confined  in  Jamaica  wished  to  escape  a  linger 
ing  death,  to  put  on  a  bold  front,  and  demand  to  be  led  away  to 
Espanola  in  such  canoes  as  could  be  got  of  the  Indians. 

It  was  on  the  2d  of  January,  1504,  that,  with  a  crowd  of 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  463 

sympathizers  watching  within  easy  call,  Francisco  de  Porras 
suddenly  presented  himself  in  the  cabin  of  the  weary  1504  Janu. 
and  bedridden  Admiral.  An  altercation  ensued,  in  Band's  o?6" 
which  the  Admiral,  propped  in  his  couch,  endeavored  Porras- 
to  assuage  the  bursting  violence  of  his  accuser,  and  to  bring 
him  to  a  sense  of  the  patient  duty  which  the  conditions  de 
manded.  It  was  one  of  the  times  when  desperate  straits  seemed 
to  restore  the  manhood  of  Columbus.  It  was,  however,  of  little 
use.  The  crisis  was  not  one  that,  in  the  present  temper  of  the 
mutineers,  could  be  avoided.  Porras,  rinding  that  the  Admiral 
could  not  be  swayed,  called  out  in  a  loud  voice,  "  I  am  for  Cas 
tile  !  Those  who  will  may  come  with  me !  "  This  signal  was 
expected,  and  a  shout  rang  in  the  air  among  those  who  were 
awaiting  it.  It  aroused  Columbus  from  his  couch,  and  he  stag 
gered  into  sight ;  but  his  presence  caused  no  cessation  of  the 
tumult.  Some  of  his  loyal  companions,  fearing  violence,  took 
him  back  to  his  bed.  The  Adelantado  braced  himself  with  his 
lance  for  an  encounter,  and  was  pacified  only  by  the  persua 
sions  of  the  Admiral's  friends.  They  loyally  said,  "Let  the 
mutineers  go.  We  will  remain."  The  angry  faction  seized  ten 
canoes,  which  the  Admiral  had  secured  from  the  Indians,  and 
putting  in  them  what  they  could  get,  they  embarked  for  their 
perilous  voyage.  Some  others  who  had  not  ioined  in 

f,     .         i    .    £    •  n          j    i        ,1        n    x        •          -u  £  The  flotilla 

their  plot  being  allured  by  the  flattering  hope  of  re-  of  Porras 
lease,  there  were  forty-eight  in  all,  and  the  little  flo 
tilla,  amid  the  mingled  execrations  and    murmurs  of   despair 
among  the  weak  and  the  downcast  who  stayed  behind,  paddled 
out  of  that  fateful  harbor. 

The  greater  part  of  all  who  were  vigorous  had  now  gone. 
There  were  a  few  strong  souls,  with  some  vitality  left  in  them, 
among  the  small  company  which  remained  to  the  Admiral ;  but 
the  most  of  them  were  sorry  objects,  with  dejected  minds  and 
bodies  more  or  less  prostrate  from  disease  and  privation.  The 
conviction  soon  settled  upon  this  deserted  community  that 
nothing  could  save  them  but  a  brotherly  and  confident  determi 
nation  to  help  one  another,  and  to  arouse  to  the  utmost  what 
ever  of  cheer  and  good  will  was  latent  in  their  spirits.  They 
could  hardly  have  met  an  attack  of  the  natives,  and  they  knew 
it.  This  made  them  more  considerate  in  their  treatment  of 
their  neighbors,  and  the  supply  of  provisions  which  they  could 


464  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

get  from  those  who  visited  the  ship  was  plentiful  for  a  while. 
But  the  habits  of  the  savages  were  not  to  accumulate  much 
beyond  present  needs,  and  when  the  baubles  which  the  Span 
iards  could  distribute  began  to  lose  their  strange  attractiveness, 
the  incentive  was  gone  to  induce  exertion,  and  supplies  were 
brought  in  less  and  less  frequently.  It  was  soon  found  that 
hawks'  bells  had  diminished  in  value.  It  took  several  to  ap 
pease  the  native  cupidity  where  one  had  formerly  done  it. 

There  was  another  difficulty.      There  were  failures  on  the 
part  of  the  more   distant  villages  to   send   in   their 

Porras'smeu    * 

stm  on  the  customary  contributions,  and  it  soon  came  to  be 
known  that  Porras  and  his  crew,  instead  of  having 
left  the  island,  were  wandering  about,  exacting  provisions  and 
committing  indignities  against  the  inhabitants  wherever  they 
went. 

It  seems  that  the  ten  canoes  had  followed  the  coast  to  the 
nearest  point  to  Espanola,  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  island,  and 
here,  waiting  for  a  calm  sea,  and  securing  some  Indians  to 
paddle,  the  mutineers  had  finally  pushed  off  for  their  voyage. 
His  voyage  The  boats  had  scarcely  gone  four  leagues  from  land, 
a  failure.  wnen  the  wind  rose  and  the  sea  began  to  alarm  them. 
So  they  turned  back.  The  men  were  little  used  to  the  manage 
ment  of  the  canoes,  and  they  soon  found  themselves  in  great 
peril.  It  seemed  necessary  to  lighten  the  canoes,  which  were 
now  taking  in  water  to  a  dangerous  extent.  They  threw  over 
much  of  their  provisions  ;  but  this  was  not  enough.  They  then 
sacrificed  one  after  another  the  natives.  If  these  resisted,  a 
swoop  of  the  sword  ended  their  miseries.  Once  in  the  water, 
the  poor  Indians  began  to  seize  the  gunwales;  but  the  sword 
chopped  off  their  hands.  So  all  but  a  few  of  them,  who  were 
absolutely  necessary  to  manage  the  canoes,  were  thrown  into  the 
sea.  Such  were  the  perils  through  which  the  mutineers  passed 
in  reaching  the  land. 

A  long  month  was  now  passed  waiting  for  another  calm  sea ; 
but  when  they  tempted  it  once  more,  it  rose  as  before,  and 
they  again  sought  the  land.  All  hope  of  success  was  now 
abandoned.  From  that  time  Porras  and  his  band  gave  them 
selves  up  to  a  lawless,  wandering  life,  during  which  they  cre 
ated  new  jealousies  among  the  tribes.  As  we  have  seen,  by 


THE  FOURTH  VOYAGE.  465 

their  exactions  they  began  at  last  to  tap  the  distant  sources  of 
supplies  for  the  Admiral  and  his  loyal  adherents. 

Columbus  now  resorted  to  an  expedient  characteristic  of  the 
ingenious  fertility  of  his  mind.  His  astronomical  tables  en 
abled  him  to  expect  the  approach  of  a  lunar  eclipse  15(M  Feb_ 
(February  29,  1504),  and  finding  it  close  at  hand  he  S£8fof 
hastily  summoned  some  of  the  neighboring  caciques.  tlie  moon> 
He  told  them  that  the  God  of  the  Spaniards  was  displeased  at 
their  neglect  to  feed  his  people,  and  that  He  was  about  to  mani 
fest  that  displeasure  by  withdrawing  the  moon  and  leaving  them 
to  such  baleful  influences  as  they  had  provoked.  When  night 
fell  and  the  shadow  began  to  steal  over  the  moon,  a  long  howl 
of  horror  arose,  and  promises  of  supplies  were  made  by  the 
stricken  caciques.  They  hurled  themselves  for  protection  at 
the  feet  of  the  Admiral.  Columbus  retired  for  an  ostensible 
communion  with  this  potent  Spirit,  and  just  as  the  hour  came 
for  the  shadow  to  withdraw  he  appeared,  and  announced  that 
their  contrition  had  appeased  the  Deity,  and  a  sign  would  be 
given  of  his  content.  Gradually  the  moon  passed  out  of  the 
shadow,  and  when  in  the  clear  heavens  the  luminary  was  again 
swimming  unobstructed  in  her  light,  the  work  of  astonishment 
had  been  done.  After  that,  Columbus  was  never  much  in  fear 
of  famine. 

It  is  time  now  to  see  how  much  more  successful  Mendez  and 
Fiesco  had  been  than  Porras  and  his  crew.      They 

T  -T^  •  • 

had  accomplished  the  voyage  to  Espanola,  it  is  true, 
but  under  such  perils  and  sufferings  that  Fiesco  could 
not  induce  a  crew  sufficient  to  man  the  canoe  to  return  with 
him  to  the  Admiral.  The  passage  had  been  made  under  the 
most  violent  conditions  of  tropical  heat  and  unprotected  endur 
ance.  Their  supply  of  water  had  given  out,  and  the  tortures  of 
thirst  came  on.  They  looked  out  for  the  little  island  At  Navasa 
of  Navasa,  which  lay  in  their  track,  where  they  thought  Island' 
that  in  the  crevices  of  the  rocks  they  might  find  some  water. 
They  looked  in  vain.  The  day  when  they  had  hoped  to  see  it 
passed,  and  night  came  on.  One  of  the  Indians  died,  and  was 
dropped  overboard.  Others  lay  panting  and  exhausted  in  the 
bottom  of  the  canoes.  Mendez  sat  watching  a  glimmer  of  light 
in  the  eastern  horizon  that  betokened  the  coming  of  the  moon. 


466  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Presently  a  faint  glisten  of  the  real  orb  grew  into  a  segment. 
He  could  see  the  water  line  as  the  illumination  increased. 
There  was  a  black  stretch  of  something  jagging  the  lower  edge 
of  the  segment.  It  was  land !  Navasa  had  been  found.  By 
morning  they  had  reached  the  island.  Water  was  discovered 
among  the  rocks ;  but  some  drank  too  freely,  and  paid  the  pen 
alty  of  their  lives.  Mussels  were  picked  up  along  the  shore ; 
they  built  a  fire  and  boiled  them.  All  day  long  they  gazed 
They  see  longingly  on  tne  distant  mountains  of  Espanola,  which 
Espanola.  were  fa  full  sigfa.  Refreshed  by  the  day's  rest,  they 
embarked  again  at  nightfall,  and  on  the  following  day  arrived 
at  Cape  Tiburon,  the  southwestern  peninsula  of  Espanola,  hav 
ing  been  four  days  on  the  voyage  from  Jamaica. 
lands  at  They  landed  among  hospitable  natives,  and  having 
waited  two  days  to  recuperate,  Mendez  took  some  sav 
ages  in  a  canoe,  and  started  to  go  along  the  coast  to  Santo  Do 
mingo,  one  hundred  and  thirty  leagues  distant.  He  had  gone 
nearly  two  thirds  of  the  distance  when,  communicating  with 
the  shore,  he  learned  that  Ovando  was  not  in  Santo  Domingo, 
but  at  Xaragua.  So  Mendez  abandoned  his  canoe,  and  started 
alone  through  the  forests  to  seek  the  governor. 

Ovando  received  him  cordially,  but  made  excuses  for  not 
Ovando  de-  sending  relief  to  Columbus  at  once.  He  was  himself 
ieiief8toding  occupied  with  the  wars  which  he  was  conducting 
Columbus.  against  the  natives.  There  was  no  ship  in  Santo 
Domingo  of  sufficient  burden  to  be  dispatched  for  such  a  res 
cue.  So  excuse  after  excuse,  and  promises  of  attention  unful 
filled,  kept  Mendez  in  the  camp  of  Ovando  for  seven  months. 
The  governor  always  had  reasons  for  den}4ng  him  permission 
to  go  to  Santo  Domingo,  where  Mendez  had  hopes  of  procuring 
a  vessel.  This  procrastinating  conduct  has  natural^  given  rise 
to  the  suspicion  that  Ovando  was  not  over-anxious  to  deliver 
Columbus  from  his  perils ;  and  there  can  be  little  question  that 
for  the  Admiral  to  have  sunk  into  oblivion  and  leave  no  trace 
would  have  relieved  both  the  governor  and  his  royal  master  of 
some  embarrassments. 

At  length  Ovando  consented  to  the  departure  of  Mendez  to 
Santo  Domingo.  There  was  a  fleet  of  caravels  expected  there, 
and  Mendez  was  anxious  to  see  if  he  could  not  procure  one  of 
them  on  the  Admiral's  own  account  to  undertake  the  voyage 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  467 

of  rescue.  His  importunities  became  so  pressing  that  Ovando 
at  last  consented  to  his  starting  for  that  port,  seventy  leagues 
distant. 

No   sooner  was   Mendez  gone  than  Ovando  determined  to 
ascertain  the  condition  of  the  party  at  Jamaica  without  helping 
them,  and    so  he  dispatched   a   caravel  to   reconnoitre.      He 
purposely  sent  a  small  craft,  that  there  might  be  no  excuse  for 
attempting  to  bring  off  the  company;  and  to  prevent  seizure 
of  the  vessel  by  Columbus,  her  commander  was  instructed  to 
lie  off  the  harbor,  and  only  send  in  a  boat,  to  communicate 
with  no  one  but  Columbus ;  and  he  was  particularly 
enjoined  to  avoid  being  enticed  on  board  the  stranded  send"  ESCO- 
caravels.     The  command  of  this  little  craft  of  espion-  serve  co- 
age  was  given  to  one  of   Columbus's  enemies,  Diego 
de  Escobar,  who  had  been  active  as  Roldan's  lieutenant  in  his 
revolt. 

When  the  vessel  appeared  off  the  harbor  where  Columbus 
was,  eight  months  had  passed  since  Mendez  and  Fiesco  had  de 
parted.  All  hopes  of  hearing  of  them  had  been  abandoned. 
A  rumor  had  come  in  from  the  natives  that  a  vessel,  bottom 
upwards,  had  been  seen  near  the  island,  drifting  with  the  cur 
rent.  It  is  said  to  have  been  a  story  started  by  Porras  that  its 
effect  might  be  distressing  to  Columbus's  adherents.  It  seems 
to  have  had  the  effect  to  hasten  further  discontent  in  that 
stricken  band,  and  a  new  revolt  was  almost  ready  to  make  itself 
known  when  Escobar's  tiny  caravel  was  descried  standing  in 
towards  shore. 

The  vessel  was  seen  to  lie  to,  when  a  boat  soon  left  her  side. 
As  it  came  within  hailing,  the  figure  of  Escobar  was  recognized. 
Columbus  knew  that  he  had  once  condemned  the  man  to  death. 
Bobadilla  had  pardoned  him.  The  boat  bumped  against  the 
side  of  one  of  the  stranded  caravels ;  the  crew  brought  it  side- 
wise  against  the  hulk,  when  a  letter  for  the  Admiral  was 
handed  up.  Columbus's  men  made  ready  to  receive  a  cask  of 
wine  and  side  of  bacon,  which  Escobar's  companions  lifted  on 
board.  All  at  once  a  quick  motion  pushed  the  boat  from  the 
hulks,  and  Escobar  stopped  her  when  she  had  got  out  of  reach. 
He  now  addressed  Columbus,  and  gave  him  the  assurances  of 
Ovando's  regret  that  he  had  no  suitable  vessel  to  send  to  him, 
but  that  he  hoped  before  long  to  have  such.  He  added  that  if 


468  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Columbus  desired  to  reply  to  Ovando's  letter,  he  would  wait  a 
brief  interval  for  him  to  prepare  an  answer. 

The  Admiral  hastily  made  his  reply  in  as  courteous  terms  as 
possible,  commending  the  purposes  of  Mendez  and  Fiesco  to  the 
governor's  kind  attention,  and  closed  with  saying  that  he  reposed 
full  confidence  in  Ovando's  expressed  intention  to  rescue  his 
people,  and  that  he  would  stay  on  the  wrecks  in  patience  till 
the  ships  came.  Escobar  received  the  letter,  and  returned  to 
his  caravel,  which  at  once  disappeared  in  the  falling  gloom  of 
night. 

Columbus  was  not  without  apprehension  that  Escobar  had 
come  simply  to  make  sure  that  the  Admiral  and  his  company 
still  survived,  and  Las  Casas,  who  was  then  at  Santo  Domingo, 
seems  to  have  been  of  the  opinion  that  Ovando  had  at  this  time 
no  purpose  to  do  more.  T}ie  selection  of  Escobar  to  carry  a 
kindly  message  gave  certainly  a  dubious  ostentation  to  all  ex 
pressions  of  friendly  interest.  The  transaction  may  possibly 
admit  of  other  interpretations.  Ovando  may  reasonably  have 
desired  that  Columbus  and  his  faithful  adherents  should  not 
abide  long  in  Espanola,  as  in  the  absence  of  vessels  returning 
to  Spain  the  Admiral  might  be  obliged  to  do.  There  were 
rumors  that  Columbus,  indignant  at  the  wrongs  which  he  felt 
he  had  received  at  the  hands  of  his  sovereigns,  had  determined 
to  hold  his  new  discoveries  for  Genoa,  and  the  Admiral  had 
referred  to  such  reports  in  his  recent  letter  to  the  Spanish 
monarchs.  Such  reports  easily  put  Ovando  on  his  guard,  and 
he  may  have  desired  time  to  get  instructions  from  Spain.  At 
all  events,  it  was  very  palpable  that  Ovando  was  cautious  and 
perhaps  inhuman,  and  Columbus  was  to  be  left  till  Escobar's 
report  should  decide  what  action  was  best. 

Columbus  endeavored  to  make  use  of  the  letter  which  Esco- 
coiumbus  bar  had  brought  from  Ovando  to  win  Porras  and  his 
cat^with  vagabonds  back  to  loyalty  and  duty.  He  dispatched 
Porras.  messengers  to  their  camp  to  say  that  Ovando  had  noti 
fied  him  of  his  purpose  to  send  a  vessel  to  take  them  off  the 
island.  The  Admiral  was  ready  to  promise  forgiveness  and  for- 
getfulness,  if  the  mutineers  would  come  in  and  submit  to  the 
requirements  of  the  orderly  life  of  his  people.  He  accompanied 
the  message  with  a  part  of  the  bacon  which  Escobar  had  deliv 
ered  as  a  present  from  the  governor.  The  lure,  however,  was 


THE  FOURTH    VOYAGE.  469 

not  effective.  Porras  met  the  ambassadors,  and  declined  the 
proffers.  He  said  his  followers  were  quite  content  with  the  free 
dom  of  the  island.  The  fact  seemed  to  be  that  the  mutineers 
were  not  quite  sure  of  the  Admiral's  sincerity,  and  feared  to 
put  themselves  in  his  power.  They  were  ready  to  come  in 
when  the  vessels  came,  if  transportation  would  be  allowed  them 
so  that  their  band  should  not  be  divided ;  and  until  then  they 
would  cause  the  Admiral's  party  110  trouble,  unless  Columbus 
refused  to  share  with  them  his  stores  and  trinkets,  which  they 
must  have,  peacefully  or  forcibly,  since  they  had  lost  all  their 
supplies  in  the  gales  which  had  driven  them  back. 

It  was  evident  that  Porras  and  his  company  were  not  reduced 
to  such  straits  that  they  could  be  reasoned  with,  and  the  mes 
sengers  returned. 

The  author  of  the  Historic,  and  others  who  follow  his  state 
ments,  represent  that  the  body  of  the  mutineers  was  far  from 
being  as  arrogant  as  their  leaders,  was  much  more  tractable  in 
spirit,  and  was  inclined  to  catch  at  the  chance  of  rescue.  The 
leaders  labored  with  the  men  to  keep  them  steady  in  their 
revolt.  Porras  and  his  abettors  did  what  they  could  to  picture 
the  cruelties  of  the  Admiral,  and  even  accused  him  of  necro 
mancy  in  summoning  the  ghost  of  a  caravel  by  which  to  make 
his  people  believe  that  Escobar  had  really  been  there.  Then,  to 
give  some  activity  to  their  courage,  the  whole  body  of  the  muti 
neers  was  led  towards  the  harbor  on  pretense  of  capturing 
stores.  The  Adelantado  went  out  to  meet  them  with  fifty 
armed  followers,  the  best  he  could  collect  from  the  wearied 
companions  of  the  Admiral.  Porras  refused  all  of-  Barthoio- 
fers  of  conference,  and  led  his  band  to  the  attack. 
There  was  a  plan  laid  among  them  that  six  of  the 
stoutest  should  attack  the  Adelantado  simultaneously,  tineers- 
thinking  that  if  their  leader  should  be  overpowered  the  rest 
would  flee.  The  Adelantado's  courage  rose  with  the  exigency, 
as  it  was  wont  to  do.  He  swung  his  sword  with  vigor,  and  one 
after  another  the  assailants  fell.  At  last  Porras  struck  him  such 
a  blow  that  the  Adelantado's  buckler  was  cleft  and  his  hand 
wounded.  The  blow  was  too  powerful  for  the  giver  of  it.  .  His 
sword  remained  wedged  in  the  buckler,  affording  his  enemy  a 
chance  to  close,  while  an  attempt  was  made  to  extricate  the 
weapon.  Others  came  to  the  loyal  leader's  assistance,  and 
Porras  was  secured  and  bound. 


470  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

This  turned  the  current  of  the  fight.  The  rebels,  seeing  their 
Porras  leader  a  prisoner,  fled  in  confusion,  leaving  the  field 
to  the  party  of  the  Adelantado.  The  fight  had  been 
a  fierce  one.  They  found  among  the  rebel  dead  Juan  San- 
Sanchez  chez,  who  had  let  slip  the  captured  Quibian,  and 
among  the  wounded  Pedro  Ledesma,  who  had  braved 
Ledesma  *ne  breakers  at  Veragua.  Las  Casas,  who  knew  the 
wounded.  latter  at  a  later  day,  deriving  some  help  from  him  if 
telling  the  story  of  these  eventful  months,  speaks  of  the  many 
and  fearful  wounds  which  he  bore  in  evidence  of  his  rebel 
lion  and  courage,  and  of  the  sturdy  activity  of  his  assailants,, 
We  owe  also  to  Ledesma  and  to  some  of  his  companions, 
who,  with  himself,  were  witnesses  in  the  later  lawsuit  of  Diego 
Colon  with  the  Crown,  certain  details  which  the  principal  nar 
rators  fail  to  give  us. 

A  charm  had  seemed  throughout  the  conflict  to  protect  the 
Admiral's  friends.  None  were  killed  outright,  and  but  one 
other  beside  their  leader  was  wounded.  This  man,  the  Admi 
ral's  steward,  subsequently  died. 

The  victors  returned  to  the  ships  with  their  prisoners ;  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  gratulations  which  followed  on  the 
20.  The  next  day,  March  20,  1504,  the  fugitives  sent  in  an 
posetoprc  address  to  the  Admiral,  begging  to  be  pardoned  and 
received  back  to  his  care  and  fortunes.  They  acknow 
ledged  their  errors  in  the  most  abject  professions,  and  called 
upon  Heaven  to  show  no  mercy,  and  upon  man  to  know  no 
sympathy,  in  dealing  retribution,  if  they  failed  in  their  fidelity 
thereafter.  The  proposition  of  surrender  was  not  without  em 
barrassment.  The  Admiral  was  fearful  of  the  trial  of  their 
constancy  when  they  might  gather  about  him  with  all  the 
chances  of  further  cabaling.  He  also  knew  that  his  provi 
sions  were  fast  running  out.  Accordingly,  in  accepting  theif 
surrender,  he  placed  them  under  officers  whom  he  could  trust, 
and  supplying  them  with  articles  of  barter,  he  let  them  wan 
der  about  the  island  under  suitable  discipline,  hoping  that  they 
would  find  food  where  they  could.  He  promised,  however,  to 
recall  them  when  the  expected  ships  arrived. 

It  was  not  long  they  had  to  wait.  One  day  two  ships  were 
seen  standing  in  towards  the  harbor.  One  of  them  proved  to  be 
a  caravel  which  Mendez  had  bought  on  the  Admiral's  account, 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  471 

out  of  a  fleet  of  three,  just  then  arrived  from  Spain,  and  had 

victualed  for  the  occasion.    Having  seen  it  depart  from 

Santo  Domingo,  Mendez,  in   the   other  ships  of  this   to  rescue16 

opportune  fleet,  sailed  directly  for  Spain,  to  carry  out 

the  further  instructions  of  the  Admiral. 

The  other  of  the  approaching  ships  was  in  command  of  Diego 
de  Salcedo,  the  Admiral's  factor,  and  had  been  dispatched  by 
Ovando.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  the  governor  was  really  forced 
to  this  action  by  public  sentiment,  which  had  grown  in  conse 
quence  of  the  stories  of  the  trials  of  Columbus  which  Mendez 
had  told.  It  is  said  that  even  the  priests  did  not  hesitate  to 
point  a  moral  in  their  pulpits  with  the  governor's  dilatory  sym 
pathy. 

Finally,  on  June  28,  everything  was  ready  for  departure,  and 
Columbus  turned  away  from  the  scene  of  so  much  1504  June 
trouble.  "  Columbus  informed  me  afterwards,  in  ^s  ^S*™' 
Spain,"  says  Mendez,  recording  the  events,  "  that  in  Jamaica- 
no  part  of  his  life  did  he  ever  experience  so  joyful  a  day,  for 
he  had  never  hoped  to  have  left  that  place  alive."  Four  years 
later,  under  authority  from  the  Admiral's  son  Diego,  the  town 
of  Sevilla  Nueva,  later  known  as  Sevilla  d'  Oro,  was  founded 
on  the  very  spot. 

The  Admiral  now  committed  himself  once  more  to  the  treach 
erous  currents  and  adverse  winds  of  these  seas.     We  have  seen 
that  Mendez  urged  his  canoe  across  the  gap  between  Jamaica 
and  the  nearest  point  of  Espanola  in  four  days  ;  but  it  took  the 
ships  of  Columbus  about  seven  weeks  to  reach  the  haven  of 
Santo   Domingo.     There  was  much  time  during  this  long  and 
vexatious  voyage  for  Columbus  to  learn  from  Salcedo 
the    direful    history  of    the   colony   which   had    been   Espanoia 
wrested  from  him,  and  which  even  under  the  enlarged   abS>e  of 
powers  of  Ovando  had    not   been    without    manifold 
tribulations.     We   must   rehearse   rapidly  the  occurrences,  as 
Columbus  heard  of  them.     He  could  have  got  but  the  scantiest 
inkling  of  what    had    happened    during  the    earliest  Ovan<io'8 
months  of  Ovando's  rule,  when  he  applied  by  messen-  rule> 
ger,  In  vain,  for  admission  to  the  harbor,  now  more  than  two 
years  ago.     The  historian  of  this  period  must  depend  mainly 
upon  Las  Casas,  who  had  come  out  with  Ovando.  and  we  must 
sketch  an  outline  of  the  tale,  as  Columbus  heard  it,  from  that 


472  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

writer's  Historia.  It  was  the  old  sad  story  of  misguided  aspi 
rants  for  wealth  in  their  first  experiences  with  the  hazards  and 
toils  of  mining,  —  much  labor,  disappointed  hopes,  failing  pro 
visions,  no  gold,  sickness,  disgust,  and  a  desponding  return  of 
the  toilers  from  the  scene  of  their  infatuation.  It  took  but 
eight  days  for  the  crowds  from  Ovando's  fleet,  who  trudged  off 
manfully  to  the  mountains  on  their  landing,  to  come  trooping 
back,  dispirited  and  diseased. 

Columbus  could  hardly  have  listened  to  what  was  said  of 
suffering  among  the  natives  during  these  two  years  of  his  ab- 
coiumbus  sence  without  a  vivid  consciousness  of  the  baleful  sys- 
and  slavery.  ^Qm  wnjch  ne  na(j  introduced  when  he  assigned  crowds 
of  the  poor  Indians  to  be  put  to  inhuman  tasks  by  Roldan's 
crew.  The  institution  of  this  kind  of  distribution  of  labor  had 
grown  naturally,  but  it  had  become  so  appalling  under  Boba- 
dilla  that,  when  O  van  do  was  sent  out,  he  was  instructed  to  put 
an  end  to  it.  It  was  not  long  before  the  governor  had  to  con 
front  the  exasperated  throngs  coming  back  from  the  mines,  de 
jected  and  empty-handed.  It  was  apparent  that  nothing  of  the 
expected  revenue  to  the  Crown  was  likely  to  be  produced  from 
lialf  the  yield  of  metal  when  there  was  no  yield  at  all.  So,  to 
induce  greater  industry,  Ovando  reduced  the  share  of  the  Crown 
to  a  third,  and  next  to  a  fifth,  but  without  success.  It  was  too 
apparent  that  the  Spaniards  would  not  persist  in  labors  which 
brought  them  so  little.  At  a  period  when  Columbus  was  flat 
tering  himself  that  he  was  laying  claim  to  far  richer  gold  fields 
at  Veragua,  Ovando  was  devising  a  renewal  of  the  Admiral's 
old  slave-driving  methods  to  make  the  mines  of  Hayna  yield 
what  they  could.  He  sent  messages  to  the  sovereigns  inform 
ing  them  that  their  kindness  to  the  natives  was  really  incon 
siderate  ;  that  the  poor  creatures,  released  from  labor,  were 
giving  themselves  up  to  mischief ;  and  that,  to  make  good  Chris 
tians  of  them,  there  was  needed  the  appetizing  effect  of  health 
ful  work  upon  the  native  soul.  The  appeal  and  the  frugal  re 
turns  to  the  treasury  were  quite  sufficient  to  gain  the  sovereigns 
to  Ovando's  views ;  and  while  bewailing  any  cruelty  to  the  poor 
1503  De-  natives,  and  expressing  hopes  for  their  spiritual  re- 
^e^»  their  Majesties  were  not  averse,  as  they  said 
(December  20,  1503),  to  these  Indians  being  made  to 
labor  as  much  as  was  needful  to  their  health.  This 


THE  FOURTH    VOYAGE.  473 

was  sufficient.  The  fatal  system  of  Columbus  was  revived  with 
increased  enormities.  Six  or  eight  months  of  unremitting  labor, 
with  insufficient  food,  were  cruelly  exacted  of  every  native. 
They  were  torn  from  their  families,  carried  to  distant  parts  of 
the  island,  kept  to  their  work  by  the  lash,  and,  if  they  dared  to 
escape,  almost  surely  recaptured,  to  work  out  their  period  under 
the  burden  of  chains.  At  last,  when  they  were  dismissed  till 
their  labor  was  again  required,  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  the  pas 
sage  through  the  island  of  these  miserable  creatures  could  be 
traced  by  their  fallen  and  decaying  bodies.  This  was  a  story 
that,  if  Columbus  possessed  any  of  the  tendernesses  that  glowed 
in  the  heart  of  Las  Casas,  could  not  have  been  a  pleasant  one 
for  his  contemplation. 

There  was  another  story  to  which  Columbus  may  have  lis 
tened.  It  is  very  likely  that  Salcedo  may  have  got  all  the  par 
ticulars  from  Diego  Mendez,  who  was  a  witness  of  the  foul  deeds 
which  had  indeed  occurred  during  those  seven  months  when 
Ovando,  then  on  an  expedition  in  Xaragua,  kept  that  messenger 
of  Columbus  waiting  his  pleasure.  Anacaona,  the  Anacaona 
sister  of  Behechio,  had  succeeded  to  that  cacique  in  Sy1161 
the  rule  of  Xaragua.  The  licentious  conduct  and  the  treated- 
capricious  demands  of  the  Spaniards  settled  in  this  region  had 
increased  the  natural  distrust  and  indignation  of  the  Indians, 
and  some  signs  of  discontent  which  they  manifested  had  been  re 
counted  to  Ovando  as  indications  of  a  revolt  which  it  was  neces 
sary  to  nip  in  the  bud.  So  the  governor  had  marched  into  the 
country  with  three  hundred  foot  and  seventy  horse.  The  chief- 
tainess,  Anacaona,  came  forth  to  meet  him  with  much  native 
parade,  and  gave  all  the  honor  which  her  savage  ceremonials 
could  signify  to  her  distinguished  guest.  She  lodged  him  as 
well  as  she  could,  and  caused  many  games  to  be  played  for  his 
divertisement.  In  return,  Ovando  prepared  a  tournament  cal 
culated  to  raise  the  expectation  of  his  simple  hosts,  and  horse 
man  and  foot  came  to  the  lists  in  full  armor  and  adornment 
for  the  heralded  show.  On  a  signal  from  Ovando,  the  innocent 
parade  was  converted  in  an  instant  into  a  fanatical  onslaught. 
The  assembled  caciques  were  hedged  about  with  armed  The  Indians 
men,  and  all  were  burned  in  their  cabins.  The  gen-  slaughtered- 
era!  populace  were  transfixed  and  trampled  by  the  charging 
mounted  spearmen,  and  only  those  who  could  elude  the  obsti- 


474  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

nate  and  headlong  dashes  of  the  cavalry  escaped.  Anacaona 
was  seized  and  conveyed  in  chains  to  Santo  Domingo,  where, 
with  the  merest  pretense  of  a  trial  for  conspiracy,  she  was  soon 
hanged. 

And  this  was  the  pacification  of  Xaragua.  That  of  Higuey, 
the  most  eastern  of  the  provinces,  and  which  had  not 
H?gufyov?r-  yet  acknowledged  the  sway  of  the  Spaniards,  followed, 
with  the  same  resorts  to  cruelty.  A  cacique  of  this 
region  had  been  slain  by  a  fierce  Spanish  dog  which  had  been 
set  upon  him.  This  impelled  some  of  the  natives  living  on  the 
coast  to  seize  a  canoe  having  eight  Spaniards  in  it,  and  to 
Esquibei's  slaughter  them  ;  whereupon  Juan  de  Esquibel  was 
campaign.  sent  with  four  hundred  men  on  a  campaign  against 
Cotabanama,  the  chief  cacique  of  Higuey.  The  invaders  met 
more  heroism  in  the  defenders  of  this  country  than  they  had 
been  accustomed  to,  but  the  Spanish  armor  and  weapons  ena 
bled  Esquibel  to  raid  through  the  land  with  almost  constant  suc 
cess.  The  Indians  at  last  sued  for  peace,  and  agreed  to  furnish 
a  tribute  of  provisions.  Esquibel  built  a  small  fortress,  and 
putting  some  men  in  it,  he  returned  to  Santo  Domingo ;  not, 
however,  until  he  had  received  Cotabanama  in  his  camp.  The 
Spanish  leader  brought  back  to  O  van  do  a  story  of  the  splendid 
physical  power  of  this  native  chief,  whose  stature,  proportions, 
and  strength  excited  the  admiration  of  the  Spaniards.  • 

The  peace  was  not  of  long  duration.  The  reckless  habits  of 
the  garrison  had  once  more  aroused  the  courage  of  the  Indians, 
and  some  of  the  latest  occurrences  which  Salcedo  could  tell  of  as 
New  revolt  having  been  reported  at  Santo  Domingo  just  before 
in  Higuey.-  j^g  saj}mg  f or  Jamaica  were  the  events  of  a  new  re 
volt  in  Higuey. 

Such  were  the  stories  which  Columbus  may  have  listened 
to  during  the  tedious  voyage  which  was  now,  on  August  3, 
1504.  AU-  approaching  an  end.  On  that  day  his  ships  sailed 
ffbus  atC°"  under  the  lea  of  the  little  island  of  Beata,  which  lies 
Beata.  midway  of  the  southern  coast  of  Espanola.  Here  he 
landed  a  messenger,  and  ordered  him  to  convey  a  letter  to 
Ovando,  warning  the  governor  of  his  approach.  Salcedo  had 
told  Columbus  that  the  governor  was  not  without  apprehension 
that  his  coming  might  raise  some  factious  disturbances  among 
the  people,  and  in  this  letter  the.  Admiral  sought  to  disabuse 


THE  FOURTH   VOYAGE.  475 

Ovando's  mind  of  such  suspicions,  and  to  express  his  own  pur 
pose  to  avoid  every  act  of  irritation  which  might  possibly  em 
barrass  the  administration  of  the  island.  The  letter  dispatched, 
Columbus  again  set  sail,  and  on  August  15  his  ship  1504  Au_ 
entered  the  harbor  of  Santo  Domingo.  Ovando  re-  f anto^'o- A* 
ceived  him  with  every  outward  token  of  respect,  and  mmgo* 
lodged  him  in  his  own  house.  Columbus,  however,  never  be 
lieved  that  this  officious  kindness  was  other  than  a  cloak  to 
Ovando's  dislike,  if  not  hatred.  There  was  no  little  popular 
sympathy  for  the  misfortunes  which  Columbus  had  experienced, 
but  his  relations  with  the  governor  were  not  such  as  to  lighten 
the  anxieties  of  his  sojourn.  It  is  known  that  Cortes  was  at 
this  time  only  recently  arrived  at  Santo  Domingo ;  but  we  can 
only  conjecture  what  may  have  been  his  interest  in  Columbus' s 
recitals. 

There  soon  arose  questions  of  jurisdiction.  Ovando  ordered 
the  release  of  Porras,  and  arranged  for  sending  him  to  Spain 
for  trial.  The  governor  also  attempted  to  interfere  with  the 
Admiral's  control  of  his  own  crew,  on  the  ground  that  his  com 
mission  gave  him  command  over  all .  the  regions  of  the  new 
islands  and  the  main.  Columbus  cited  the  instructions,  which 
gave  him  power  to  rule  and  judge  his  own  followers.  Ovando 
did  not  push  his  claims  to  extremities,  but  the  irritation  never 
subsided  ;  and  Columbus  seems  to  have  lost  no  opportunity,  if 
we  may  judge  from  his  later  letters,  to  pick  up  every  scan 
dalous  story  and  tale  of  maladministration  of  which  Columbus 
he  could  learn,  and  which  could  be  charged  against  and°vando- 
Ovando  in  later  appeals  to  the  sovereigns  for  a  restitution  of 
his  own  rights.  The  Admiral  also  inquired  into  his  pecuniary 
interests  in  the  island,  and  found,  as  he  thought,  that  Ovando 
had  obstructed  his  factor  in  the  gathering  of  his  share.  Indeed, 
there  may  have  been  some  truth  in  this  ;  for  Carvajal,  Colum- 
bus's  first  factor,  had  complained  of  such  acts  to  the  sovereigns, 
which  elicited  an  admonishment  from  them  to  Ovando. 

Such  money  as  Columbus  could  now  collect  he  used  in  refit 
ting  the  ship  which  had  brought  him  from  Jamaica,  and  he 
put  her  under  the  order  of  the  Adelantado.  Securing  also 
another  caravel  for  his  own  conveyance,  he  embarked  on  her 
with  his  son,  and  on  September  12  both  ships  started  on  their 
homeward  voyage.  They  were  scarcely  at  sea,  when  the  ship 


476  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

which  bore  the  Admiral  lost  her  mast  in  a  gale.     He  trans 
ferred  himself  and  his  immediate  dependents  to  the 
temberi2.     other  vessel,  and  sent  the  disabled  caravel  back  to 

Columbus  T 

sails  for  Santo  Domingo.  His  solitary  vessel  now  went  for 
ward,  amid  all  the  adversities  that  seemed  to  cling 
inevitably  to  this  last  of  Columbus's  expeditions.  Tempest 
after  tempest  pursued  him.  The  masts  were  sprung,  and  again 
1504.  NO-  sprung ;  and  in  a  forlorn  and  disabled  condition  the 
Re^heVsan  l^6  hapless  bark  finally  entered  the  port  of  San 
Lucar.  Lucar  on  November  7,  1504.  He  had  been  absent 
from  Spain  for  two  years  and  a  half. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

COLUMBUS'S   LAST  YEARS. — DEATH   AND   CHARACTER. 

1504-1506. 

FROM  San  Lucar,  Columbus,  a  sick  man  in  search  of  quiet 
and  rest,  was  conveyed  to  Seville.     Unhappily,  there 

'  „        .      ,    .  •     ' r  '        .  Columbu8in 

was  neither  repose  nor  peace  or  mind  in  store  tor  him.   Seville  tin 
He  remained  in  that  city  till  May,  1505,  broken  in 
spirits  and  almost  helpless  of  limb.     Fortunately,  we  can  trace 
his  varying  mental  moods  during  these  few  months  in  a  series 
of  letters,  most  of  which  are  addressed  by  him  to  his  Letter8to 
son  Diego,  then  closely  attached  to  the  Court.     These  hisson- 
writings  have  fortunately  come  down  to  us,  and  they  constitute 
the  only  series  of  Columbus's  letters  which  we  have,  showing  the 
habits  of  his  mind  consecutively  for  a  confined  period,  so  that 
we  get  a  close  watch  upon  his  thoughts.     They  are  the  wails  of 
a  neglected  soul,  and  the  cries  of  one  whose  hope  is  cruelly  de 
ferred.     They  have  in  their  entirety  a  good  deal  of  that  hap 
hazard  jerkiness  tiresome  to  read,  and  not  easily  made  evident 
in  abstract.     They  are,  however,  not  so  deficient  in  mental  equi 
poise  as,  for  instance,  the  letter  sent  from  Jamaica.     This  is 
perhaps  owing  to  the  one  absorbing  burden  of  them,  his  hope 
of  recovering  possession  of  his  suspended  authority. 

He  writes  on  November  21,  1504,  a  fortnight  after  his  land 
ing  at  San  Lucar,  telling  his  son  how  he  has  engaged   1504    No_ 
his  old  friend,  the  Dominican  Deza,  now  the  Bishop  of  vember21 
Palencia,  to  intercede  with  the  sovereigns,  that  justice  may  be 
done  to  him  with  respect  to  his  income,  the  payment  of  which 
Ovando  had  all  along,  as  he  contends,  obstructed  at  Espanola. 
He  tries  to  argue  that  if  their  Highnesses   but  knew  it,  they 
would,  in  ordering  restitution  to  him,  increase  their  own  share. 
He  hopes  they  have  no  doubt  that  his  zeal  for  their  interests 
has  been  quite  as  much  as  he  could  manifest  if  he  had  par- 


478  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

adise  to  gain,  and  hopes  they  will  remember,  respecting  any 
errors  he  may  have  committed,  that  the  Lord  of  all  judges  such 
things  by  the  intention  rather  than  by  the  outcome.  He  seems 
to  have  a  suspicion  that  Porras,  now  at  liberty  and  about  the 
Court,  might  be  insidiously  at  work  to  his  old  commander's  dis 
advantage,  and  he  represents  that  neither  Porras  nor  his  brother 
had  been  suitable  persons  for  their  offices,  and  that  what  had 
been  done  respecting  them  would  be  approved  on  inquiry. 
"  Their  revolt,"  he  says,  "  surprised  me,  considering  all  that  I 
had  done  for  them,  as  much  as  the  sun  would  have  alarmed  me 
if  it  had  shot  shadows  instead  of  light."  He  complains  of 
Ovando's  taking  the  prisoners,  who  had  been  companions  of 
Porras,  from  his  hands,  and  that,  made  free,  they  had  even  dared 
to  present  themselves  at  Court.  "  I  have  written,"  he  adds, 
"  to  their  Highnesses  about  it,  and  I  have  told  them  that  it 
can't  be  possible  that  they  would  tolerate  such  an  offense." 
He  says  further  that  he  has  written  to  the  royal  treasurer,  beg 
ging  him  to  come  to  no  decision  of  the  representations  of  such 
detractors  until  the  other  side  could  be  heard,  and  he  adds  that 
he  has  sent  to  the  treasurer  a  copy  of  the  oath  which  the  muti 
neers  sent  in  after  Porras  had  been  taken.  "  Recall  to  all 
these  people,"  he  writes  to  his  son,  "my  infirmities,  and  the 
recompense  due  to  me  for  my  services." 

Diego  was  naturally,  from  his  residence  at  Court,  a  conven 
ient  medium  to  bring  all  Columbus's  wishes  to  the  notice  of 
those  about  the  sovereigns.  The  Admiral  writes  to  Diego  again 
that  he  hopes  their  Highnesses  will  see  to  the  paying  of  his 
men  who  had  come  home.  "  They  are  poor,  and  have  been 
gone  three  years,"  he  says.  "  They  bring  home  evidences  of 
the  greatest  of  expectations  in  the  new  gold  fields  of  Veragua ;  " 
and  then  he  advises  his  son  to  bring  this  fact  to  the  attention 
of  all  who  are  concerned,  and  to  urge  the  colonizing  of  the  new 
country  as  the  best  way  to  profit  from  its  gold  mines.  For 
a  while  he  harbored  the  hope  that  he  might  at  once  go  on  to 
the  Court,  and  a  litter  which  had  served  in  the  obsequies  of 
Cardinal  Mendoza  was  put  at  his  disposal ;  but  this  plan  was 
soon  given  up. 

A  week  later,  having  in  the  interim  received  a  letter  of  the 
1504.  NO-  15th,  from  Diego,  Columbus  writes  again,  under  date 
of  November  28.  In  this  epistle  he  speaks  of  the 


COLUMBUS'S  LAST    YEARS.  479 

severity  of  bis  disease,  which  keeps  him  in  Seville,  from  which, 
however,  he  hopes  to  depart  the  coming  week,  and  of  his  dis 
appointment  that  the  sovereigns  had  not  replied  to  his  inqui 
ries.  He  sends  his  love  to  Diego  Mendez,  hoping  that  his 
friend's  zeal  and  love  of  truth  will  enable  him  to  overcome  the 
deceits  and  intrigues  of  Porras. 

Columbus  was  not  at   this  time  aware  that  the  impending 
death  of  the  Queen  had  something  to  do  with  the  delays  in  his 
own  affairs  at  Court.     Two  days   (November  26)    before  the 
Admiral  wrote  this  note,  Isabella  had  died,  worn  out  1504    No_ 
by  her  labors,  and  depressed  by  the  afflictions  which   Q^eifisa- 
she  had  experienced  in  her  domestic  circle.     She  was  belladies- 
an  unlovely   woman  at   the    best,   an   obstructor  of   Christian 
charity,  but  in  her  wiles  she  had  allured  Columbus  to  a  belief 
in  her  countenance  of  him.     The  conventional  estimate  of  her 
character,  which  is  enforced  in  the  rather  cloying  de-  Isabeiia'8 
scriptions  of  Prescott,  is  such  as  her  flatterers  drew  character- 
in  her  own  times  ;    but   the  revelations  of  historical  research 
hardly  confirm  it.     It  was  with  her  much  as  with  Columbus,  — 
she  was  too  largely  a  creature  of  her  own  age  to  be  solely  judged 
by  the  criteria  of  all  ages,  as  lofty  characters  can  be. 

The  loss  of  her  influence  on  the  king  removed,  as  it  proved, 
even  the  chance  of  a  flattering  delusiveness  in  the  hopes  of 
Columbus.  As  the  compiler  of  the  Historic  expresses  it,  "  Co 
lumbus  had  always  enjoyed  her  favor  and  protection,  while  the 
King  had  always  been  indifferent,  or  rather  inimical."  She 
had  indeed,  during  the  Admiral's  absence  on  his  last  voyage, 
manifested  some  new  appreciation  of  his  services,  which  cost 
her  little,  however,  when  she  made  his  eldest  son  one  of  her 
bodyguard  and  naturalized  his  brother  Diego,  to  fit  him  for 
ecclesiastical  preferment. 

On  December  1,  ignorant  of  the  sad  occurrences  at  Court, 
Columbus  writes  again,  chiding  Diego  that  he  had  not  1504    De_ 
in  his  dutif ulness  written  to  his  poor  father.     "  You  cem^r  1- 
ought  to  know,"  he  says,  "  that  I  have  no  pleasure  now  but 
in  a  letter  from  you."     Columbus  by  this  time  had  become, 
by  the  constant  arrival  of  couriers,  aware  of  the  anxiety  at 
Court  over  the  Queen's   health,  and  he   prays  that  the  Holy 
Trinity  will  restore  her  to  health,  to  the  end  that  all  that  has 
been  begun  may  be  happily  finished.     He  reiterates  what  he 


480  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

had  previously  written  about  the  increasing  severity  of  his  mal 
ady,  his  inability  to  travel,  his  want  of  money,  and  how  he  had 
used  all  he  could  get  in  Espanola  to  bring  home  his  poor  com 
panions.  He  commends  anew  to  Diego  his  brother  Ferdinand, 
and  speaks  of  this  younger  son's  character  as  beyond  his  years. 
"Ten  brothers  would  not  be  too  many  for  you,"  he  adds;  "in 
good  as  in  bad  fortune,  I  have  never  found  better  friends  than 
my  brothers." 

Nothing  troubles  him  more  than  the  delays  in  hearing  from 
Court.  A  rumor  had  reached  him  that  it  was  intended  to 
send  some  bishops  to  the  Indies,  and  that  the  Bishop  of  Palen- 
cia  was  charged  with  the  matter.  He  begs  Diego  to  say  to  the 
bishop  that  it  was  worth  while,  in  the  interests  of  all,  to  con 
fer  with  the  Admiral  first.  In  explaining  why  he  does  not  write 
to  Diego  Mendez,  he  says  that  he  is  obliged  to  write  by  night, 
since  by  day  his  hands  are  weak  and  painful.  He  adds  that 
the  vessel  which  put  back  to  Santo  Domingo  had  arrived, 
bringing  the  papers  in  Porras's  case,  the  result  of  the  inquest 
which  had  been  taken  at  Jamaica,  so  that  he  could  now  be 
able  to  present  an  indictment  to  the  Council  of  the  Indies.  His 
indignation  is  aroused  at  the  mention  of  it.  "  What  can  be  so 
foul  and  brutal !  If  their  Highnesses  pass  it  by,  who  is  going 
again  to  lead  men  upon  their  service !  " 

Two  days  later  (December  3),  he  writes  again  to  Diego 
150*.  De-  about  the  neglect  which  he  is  experiencing  from  him 
cembers.  an(j  f rom  others  at  Court.  "  Everybody  except  my 
self  is  receiving  letters,"  he  says.  He  incloses  a  memoir  ex 
pressing  what  he  thought  it  was  necessary  to  do  in  the  pres 
ent  conjunction  of  his  affairs.  This  document  opens  with  call 
ing  upon  Diego  zealously  to  pray  to  God  for  the  soul  of  the 
Queen.  "  One  must  believe  she  is  now  clothed  with  a  sainted 
glory,  no  longer  regretting  the  bitterness  and  weariness  of  this 
life."  The  King,  he  adds,  "  deserves  all  our  sympathy  and  de 
votion."  He  then  informs  Diego  that  he  has  directed  his 
brother,  his  uncle,  and  Carvajal  to  add  all  their  importunities 
to  his  son's,  and  to  the  written  prayers  which  he  himself  has  sent, 
that  consideration  should  be  given  to  the  affairs  of  the  Indies. 
Nothing,  he  says,  can  be  more  urgent  than  to  remedy  the 
abuses  there.  In  all  this  he  curiously  takes  on  the  tone  of  his 
own  accusers  a  few  years  before.  He  represents  that  pecuniary 


COLUMBUS'S  LAST   YEARS.  481 

returns  from  Espanola  are  delayed;  that  the  governor  is  de 
tested  by  all ;  that  a  suitable  person  sent  there  could  restore 
harmony  in  less  than  three  months ;  and  that  other  fortresses, 
which  are  much  needed,  should  be  built,  "  all  of  which  I  can  do 
in  his  Highnesses  service,"  he  exclaims,  "  and  any  other,  not 
having  my  personal  interests  at  stake,  could  not  do  it  so  well ! ' 
Then  he  repeats  how,  immediately  after  his  arrival  at  San  Lm- 
car,  he  had  written  to  the  King  a  very  long  letter,  advising 
action  in  the  matter,  to  which  no  reply  had  been  returned. 

It  was  during  Columbus's  absence  on  this  last  voyage  that,  by 
an  ordinance  made  at  Alcala,  January  20,  1503,  the 

J     ,  ,.   .      ,         .  ,      1503.    Janu- 

famous  Casa  de   Contratacion  was  established,  with  ary20.   The 

/v>    •  T  i  i         Casa  de  Con- 

authority  over  the  affairs  of  the  Indies,  having  the  tratadon  es- 
power  to  grant  licenses,  to  dispatch  fleets,  to  dispose 
of  the  results  of  trade  or  exploration,  and  to  exercise  certain 
judicial  prerogatives.  This  council  was  to  consist  of  a  treasurer, 
a  factor,  and  a  comptroller,  to  whom  two  persons  learned  in  the 
law  were  given  as  advisers.  Alexander  VI.  had  already,  by  a 
bull  of  November  16,  1501,  authorized  the  payment  to  the  con 
stituted  Spanish  officials  of  all  the  tithes  of  the  colonies,  which 
went  a  long  way  in  giving  Spain  ecclesiastical  supremacy  in  the 
Indies,  in  addition  to  her  political  control. 

It  was  to  this  council  that  Columbus  refers,  when  he  says 
he  had  told  the  gentlemen  of  the  Contratacion  that  they  ought 
to  abide  by  the  verbal  and  written  orders  which  the  King  had 
given,  and  that,  above  all,  they  should  watch  lest  people  should 
sail  to  the  Indies  without  permission.  He  reminded  them  of 
the  sorry  character  of  the  people  already  in  the  New  World, 
and  of  the  way  in  which  treasure  was  stored  there  without  pro 
tection. 

Ten  days  later  (December  13),  he  writes  again  to  Diege,  re 
curring  to  his  bitter  memories  of  Ovando,  charging  1504   De_ 
him  with  diverting   the  revenues,  and  with  bearing  cember13- 
himself  so  haughtily  that  no  one  dared  remonstrate.     "  Every 
body  says  that  I  have  as  much  as  11,000  or  12,000  castellanos 
in  Espanola,  and  I  have  not  received  a  quarter.     Since  I  came 
away  he  must  have  received  5,000."     He  then  urges  Diego  to 
sue  the  King  for  a  mandatory  letter  to  be  sent  to  Ovando,  for 
cing  immediate  payment.     "  Carvajal  knows  very  well  that  this 
ought  to  be  done.     Show  him  this  letter,"  he  adds.     Then  re- 


482  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ferring  to  his  denied  rights,  and  to  the  best  way  to  make  the 
King  sensible  of  his  earlier  promises,  he  next  advises  Diego  to 
lessen  his  expenses ;  to  treat  his  uncle  with  the  respect  which  is 
due  to  him ;  and  to  bear  himself  towards  his  younger  brother 
as  an  older  brother  should.  "  You  have  no1  other  brother,"  he 
says ;  "  and  thank  God  this  one  is  all  you  could  desire.  He 
was  born  with  a  good  nature."  Then  he  reverts  to  the  Queen's 
death.  "People  tell  me,"  he  writes,  "that  on  her  death-bed 
she  expressed  a  wish  that  my  possession  of  the  Indies  should 
be  restored  to  me." 

A  week  later  (December  21),  he  once  more  bewails  the  way 
1504  De-  in  which  he  is  left  without  tidings.  He  recounts  the 
cember  21.  exertions  he  had  made  to  send  money  to  his  advocates 
at  Court,  and  tells  Diego  how  he  must  somehow  continue  to  get 
on  as  best  he  can  till  their  Highnesses  are  content  to  give  them 
back  their  power.  He  repeats  that  to  bring  his  companions 
home  from  Santo  Domingo  he  had  spent  twelve  hundred  cas- 
tellanos,  and  that  he  had  represented  to  the  King  the  royal  in 
debtedness  for  this,  but  it  produced  no  reimbursement.  He 
asks  Diego  to  find  out  if  the  Queen,  "  now  with  God,  no  doubt," 
had  spoken  of  him  in  her  will ;  and  perhaps  the  Bishop  of  Palen- 
cia,  "  who  was  the  cause  of  their  Majesties'  acquiring  the  Indies, 
and  of  my  returning  to  the  Court  when  I  had  departed,"  or  the 
chamberlain  of  the  King  could  find  this  out.  Columbus  may 
have  lived  to  learn  that  the  only  item  of  the  Queen's  will  in 
which  he  could  possibly  have  been  in  mind  was  the  one  in 
which  she  showed  that  she  was  aroused  to  the  enormities  which 
Columbus  had  imposed  on  the  Indians,  and  which  had  come 
to  such  results  that,  as  Las  Casas  says,  it  had  been  endeavored 
to  keep  the  knowledge  of  it  from  the  Queen's  ears.  She  ear 
nestly  enjoined  upon  her  successors  a  change  of  attitude  to 
wards  the  poor  Indians. 

Columbus  further  says  that  the  Pope  had  complained  that  no 
account  of  his  voyage  had  been  sent  to  Rome,  and  that  accord 
ingly  he  had  prepared  one,  and  he  dosired  Diego  to 
writes  to       read  it,  and  to  let  the  King  and  the  bishop  also  peruse 
it  before  it  was  forwarded  to  Rome.     It  is  possible 
that   the   Adelantado  was   dispatched   with   the   letter.      The 
canonizers  say  that  the  mission  to  Rome  had  also  a  secret  pur 
pose,  which  was  to  counteract  the  schemes  of  Fonseca  to  create 


COLUMBU&S   LAST    YEARS.  483 

bishoprics  in  Espanola,  and  that  the  advice  of  Columbus  in  the 
end  prevailed  over  the  "  cunning  of  diplomacy." 

There   had   been  some  time  before,  owing  to  the  difficulty 
which  had  been  experienced  in  mounting  the  royal  cavalry,  an 
order  promulgated  .forbidding  the  use  of  mules  in  travel,  since 
it  was  thought  that  the  preference  for  this  animal  had  brought 
about  the  deterioration  and  scarcity  of  horses.     It  was  to  this 
injunction  that  Columbus  now  referred  when  he  asked  Diego  to 
get  a  dispensation  from  the  King  to  allow  him  to  enjoy  the 
easier  seat  of  a  mule  when  he  should  venture  on  his 
journey  towards  the  Court,  which,  with  this  help,  he  ruary  23.e 
hoped  to  be  able  to  begin  within  a  few  weeks.     Such  allowed  to 
an  order  was  in  due  time  issued  on  February  23, 1505. 

On  December  29,  Columbus  wrote  again.  The  letter  was  full 
of  the  same  pitiful  suspense.  He  had  received  no  let-  1504  De_ 
ters.  He  could  but  repeat  the  old  story  of  the  letters  cember29- 
of  credit  which  he  had  sent  and  which  had  not  been  acknow 
ledged.  No  one  of  his  people  had  been  paid,  he  said,  neither 
the  faithful  nor  the  mutineers.  "  They  are  all  poor.  They 
are  going  to  Court,"  he  adds,  "  to  press  their  claims.  Aid  them 
in  it."  He  excepts,  however,  from  the  kind  interest  of  his 
friends  two  fellows  who  had  been  with  him  on  his  last  voyage, 
one  Camacho  and  Master  Bernal,  the  latter  the  physician  of  the 
flagship.  Bernal  was  the  instigator  of  the  revolt  of  Porras, 
he  says,  "  and  I  pardoned  him  at  the  prayer  of  my  brother." 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  previous  to  starting  on  his  last 
voyage,   Columbus  had   written   to  the  Bank  of    St.   Columbus 
George  in  Genoa,  proposing  a  gift  of  a  tenth  of  his  BanifS  st 
income  for  the  benefit  of  his  native  town.     The  letter  Geor&e- 
was  long  in  reaching  its  destination,  but  a  reply  was  duly  sent 
through  his  son  Diego.     It  never  reached  Columbus,  and  this 
apparent  spurning  of  his  gift  by  Genoa  caused  not  a  small  part 
of  his  present  disgust  with  the  world. 

On  December  27, 1504,  he  wrote  to  Nicolo  Oderigo,  remind 
ing  him  of  the  letter,  and  complaining  that  while  he  1504    De_ 
had  expected  to  be  met  on  his  return  by  some  confi-  cember27- 
dential  agent  of  the  bank,  he  had  not  even  had  a  letter  in  re 
sponse.     u  It  was  uncourteous  in  these  gentlemen  of  St.  George 
not  to  have  favored  me  with  an  answer."     The  intention  was, 
in  fact,  far  from  being  unappreciated,  and  at  a  later  day  the 


484  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

promise  became  so  far  magnified  as  to  be  regarded  as  an  actual 
gift,  in  which  the  Genoese  were  not  without  pride.  The  pur 
pose  never,  however,  had  a  fulfillment. 

On  January  4,  1505,  the  Admiral  wrote  to  his  friend  Father 
1505.  janu-  Gorricio,  telling  him  that  Diego  Mendez  had  arrived 
ary*-  from  the  Court,  and  asking  the  friar  to  encase  in  wax 

the  documentary  privileges  of  the  Admiral  which  had  been  in 
trusted  to  him,  and  to  send  them  to  him.  "  My  disease  grows 
better  day  by  day,"  he  adds. 

On  January  18,  1505,  he  again  wrote.  The  epistle  was  in 
1505.  Janu-  some  small  degree  cheery.  He  had  heard  at  last  from 
ary  is.  Diego.  "  Zamora  the  courier  has  arrived,  and  I  have 
looked  with  great  delight  upon  thy  letter,  thy  uncle's,  thy  bro 
ther's,  and  CarvajaFs."  Diego  Mendez,  he  says,  sets  out  in 
three  or  four  days  with  an  order  for  payment.  He  refers  with 
some  playfulness,  even,  to  Fonseca,  who  had  just  been  raised 
to  the  bishopric  of  Placentia,  and  had  not  yet  returned  from 
Flanders  to  take  possession  of  the  seat.  "If  the  Bishop  of 
Placentia  has  arrived,  or  when  he  comes,  tell  him  how  much 
pleased  I  am  at  his  elevation ;  and  that  when  I  come  to  Court 
I  shall  depend  on  lodging  with  his  Grace,  whether  he  wishes 
it  or  not,  that  we  may  renew  our  old  fraternal  bonds."  His 
biographers  have  been  in  some  little  uncertainty  whether  he 
really  meant  here  Fonseca  or  his  old  friend  Deza,  who  had 
just  left  that  bishopric  vacant  for  the  higher  post  of  Archbishop 
of  Seville.  A  strict  application  of  dates  makes  the  reference  to 
Fonseca.  One  may  imagine,  however,  that  Columbus  was  not 
accurately  informed.  It  is  indeed  hard  to  understand  the  pleas 
antry,  if  Fonseca  was  the  bitter  enemy  of  Columbus  that  he 
is  pictured  by  Irving. 

Some  ships  from  Espanola  had  put  into  the  Tagus.  "  They 
have  not  arrived  here  from  Lisbon,"  he  adds.  "  They  bring 
much  gold,  but  none  for  me." 

We  next  find  Columbus  in  close  communion  with  a  contempo 
rary  with  whose  fame  his  own  is  sadly  conjoined.  Some  ac 
count  of  the  events  of  the  voyage  which  Vespucius 
wi?hevTspu-  had  made  along  the  coast  of  South  America  with 
Coelho,  from  which  he  had  returned  to  Lisbon  in  Sep 
tember,  1502,  has  been  given  on  an  earlier  page.  Those  events 
and  his  descriptions  had  already  brought  the  name  of  Vespu- 


COLUMBUS' S  LAST   YEARS.  485 

cius  into  prominence  throughout  Europe,  but  hardly  before  he 
had  started  on  another  voyage  in  the  spring  or  early  summer  of 
1503,  just  at  the  time  when  Columbus  was  endeavoring  to 
work  his  way  from  the  Veragua  coast  to  Espanola.  The  au 
thorities  are  not  quite  agreed  whether  it  was  on  May  10,  1503, 
or  a  month  later,  on  June  10,  that  the  little  Portuguese  fleet  in 
which  Vespucius  sailed  left  the  Tagus,  to  find  a  way,  if  possi 
ble,  to  the  Moluccas  somewhere  along  the  same  great  coast. 
This  expedition  had  started  under  the  command  of  Coelho,  but 
meeting  with  mishaps,  by  which  the  fleet  was  separated,  Vespu 
cius,  with  his  own  vessel,  joined  later  by  another  with  which 
he  fell  in,  proceeded  to  Bahia,  where  a  factory  for  storing  Bra 
zil-wood  was  erected ;  thence,  after  a  stay  there,  they  sailed  for 
Lisbon,  arriving  there  after  an  absence  of  seventy-seven  days, 
on  June  18,  1504.  It  was  later,  on  September  4,  that  Vespu 
cius  wrote,  or  rather  dated,  that  account  of  his  voyage 
which  was  to  work  such  marvels,  as  we  shall  see,  in  the  account  of 
reputation  of  himself  and  of  Columbus.  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  Columbus  ever  knew  of  this  letter  of 
September  4,  so  subversive  as  it  turned  out  of  his  just  fame ; 
nor,  judging  from  the  account  of  their  interview  which  Colum 
bus  records,  is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  Vespucius  him 
self  had  any  conception  of  the  work  which  that  fateful  letter 
was  already  accomplishing,  and  to  which  reference  will  be 
made  later. 

On  February  5,  1505,  Columbus  wrote  to  Diego :  "  Within 
two  days  I  have  talked  with  Americus  Vespucius,  who  1505  Feb. 
will  bear  this  to  you,  and  who  is  summoned  to  Court  ruary  5- 
on  matters  of  navigation.  He  has  always  manifested  a  dispo 
sition  to  be  friendly  to  me.  Fortune  has  not  always  favored 
him,  and  in  this  he  is  not  different  from  many  others.  His 
ventures  have  not  always  been  as  successful  as  he  would  wish. 
He  left  me  full  of  the  kindliest  purposes  towards  me,  and  will 
do  anything  for  me  which  is  in  his  power.  I  hardly  knew  what 
to  tell  him  would  be  helpful  in  him  to  do  for  me,  because  I 
did  not  know  what  purpose  there  was  in  calling  him  to  Court. 
Find  out  what  he  can  do,  and  he  will  do  it ;  only  let  it  be  so 
managed  that  he  will  not  be  suspected  of  rendering  me  aid.  I 
have  told  him  all  that  it  is  possible  to  tell  him  as  to  my  own 
affairs,  including  what  I  have  done  and  what  recompense  I 


486  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

have  had.     Show  this  letter  to  the  Adelantado,  so  that  he  may 
advise  how  Vespucius  can  be  made  serviceable  to  us." 

We  soon  after  this  find  Vespucius  installed  as  an  agent  of 
1505.  Apni  the  Spanish  government,  naturalized  on  April  24  as 
diis  ratS-  a  Castilian,  and  occupied  at  the  seaports  in  superin 
tending  the  fitting  out  of  ships  for  the  Indies,  with  an 
annual  salary  of  thirty  thousand  maravedis.  We  can  find  no 
trace  of  any  assistance  that  he  afforded  the  cause  of  Columbus. 
Meanwhile  events  were  taking  place  which  Columbus  might 
well  perhaps  have  arrested,  could  he  have  got  the  royal  ear. 
coiumbus's  An  order  had  been  sent  in  February  to  Espanola  to 
effects  sold.  ge]}  ^e  effects  of  Columbus,  and  in  April  other  prop 
erty  of  the  Admiral  had  been  seized  to  satisfy  his  creditors. 

In  May,  1505,  Columbus,  with  the  friendly  care  of  his  bro- 
1505.  May.  *ner  Bartholomew,  set  out  on  his  journey  to  Segovia, 
gc£s  tobse-  where  the  Court  then  was.  This  is  the  statement  of 
Las  Casas,  but  Harrisse  can  find  no  evidence  of  his 
being  near  the  Court  till  August,  when,  on  the  25th, 
AttlsS  h£  ne  attested,  as  will  appear,  his  will  before  a  notary. 
The  change  bringing  him  into  the  presence  of  his 
royal  master  only  made  his  mortification  more  poignant.  His 
personal  suit  to  the  King  was  quite  as  ineffective  as  his  letters 
had  been.  The  sovereign  was  outwardly  beneficent,  and  in 
wardly  uncompliant.  The  Admiral's  recitals  respecting  his  last 
voyage,  both  of  promised  wealth  and  of  saddened  toil,  made  lit 
tle  impression.  Las  Casas  suspects  that  the  insinuations  of 
Porras  had  preoccupied  the  royal  mind.  To  rid  himself  of  the 
importunities  of  Columbus,  the  King  proposed  an  ar- 
andTerdl  biter,  and  readily  consented  to  the  choice  which  Co 
lumbus  made  of  his  old  friend  Deza,  now  Archbishop 
of  Seville  ;  but  Columbus  was  too  immovably  fixed  upon  his 
own  rights  to  consent  that  more  than  the  question  of  revenue 
should  be  considered  by  such  an  arbiter.  His  recorded  privi 
leges  and  the  pledged  word  of  the  sovereign  were  not  matters 
to  be  reconsidered.  Such  was  not,  however,  the  opinion  of 
the  King.  He  evaded  the  point  in  his  talk  with  bland  counte 
nance,  and  did  nothing  in  his  acts  beyond  referring  the  ques 
tion  anew  to  a  body  of  counselors  convened  to  determine  the 
fulfillment  of  the  Queen's  will.  They  did  nothing  quite  as 
easily  as  the  King.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  the  King  was  only 


COLUMBUS'S  LAST   YEARS.  487 

restrained  by  motives  of  outward  decency  from  a  public  re 
jection  of  all  the  binding  obligations  towards  the  Admiral  into 
which  he  had  entered  jointly  with  the  Queen. 

Columbus  found  in  all  this  nothing  to  comfort  a  sick  and 
desponding  man,  and  sank  in  despair  upon  his  couch.  He 
roused  enough  to  have  a  will  drafted  August  25,  which 

1505      Au- 

confirmed  a  testament  made  in  1502,  before  starting  gust'25.  His 
on  his  last  voyage.     His  disease  renewed  its  attacks. 
An   old  wound  had  reopened.     From  a  bed  of  pain  he  began 
again  his  written  appeals.     He  now  gave  up  all  hopes  for  him 
self,  but  he  pleaded  for  his  son,  that  upon  him  the  honors  which 
he  himself  had  so  laboriously  won  should  be  bestowed. 
Diego  at  the    same  time,  in  seconding  the  petition,  pieadafS 
promised,  if    the    reinstatement  took   place,   that    he 
would  count  those  among  his  counselors  whom  the  royal  will 
should  designate.      Nothing  of  protest  or  appeal  came  oppor 
tunely  to  the  determined  King.    "  The  more  he  was  petitioned," 
says  Las  Casas,  "  the  more  bland  he  was  in  avoiding  any  con 
clusion.     He  hoped  by  exhausting  the  patience  of  the  Admiral 
to  induce  him  to  accept  some  estates  in  Castile  in  lieu  of  such 
powers  in  the  Indies.     Columbus  rejected  all  such  in 
timations  with  indignation.     He  would  have  nothing  ferl  of  es- 
but  his  bonded  rights.     "  I  have  done  all  that  I  can 
do,"  he  said  in  a  pitiful,  despairing  letter  to  Deza.     "  I  must 
leave  the  issue  to  God.    He  has  always   sustained  me  in  ex 
tremities." 

"  It  argued,"  says  Prescott,  in  commenting  on  this,  "  less 
knowledge  of  character  than  the  King  usually  showed,  that  he 
should  have  thought  the  man  who  had  broken  off  all  negotia 
tions  on  the  threshold  of  a  dubious  enterprise,  rather  than 
abate  one  tittle  of  his  demands,  would  consent  to  such  abate 
ment,  when  the  success  of  that  enterprise  was  so  gloriously  es 
tablished." 

The  Admiral  was,  during  this  part  of  his  suit,  apparently 
at  Salamanca,  for  Mendez  speaks  of  him  as  being  Coiumbusat 
there  confined  to  his  bed  with  the  gout,  while  he  him-  Salamanca- 
self  was  doing  all  he  could  to  press  his  master's  claims  to  have 
Diego  recognized  in  his  rights.  In  return  for  this  service, 
Mendez  asked  to  be  appointed  principal  Alguazil  of  Mendez  and 
Espanola  for  life,  and  he  says  the  Admiral  acknow-  Columbus- 


488  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ledged  that  such  an  appointment  was  but  a  trifling  remuneration 
for  his  great  services,  but  the  requital  never  came. 

There  broke  a  glimmer  of  hope.  The  death  of  the  Queen 
had  left  the  throne  of  Castile  to  her  daughter  Juana,  the  wife 
of  Philip  of  Austria,  and  they  had  arrived  from  Flanders  to 
be  installed  in  their  inheritance.  Columbus,  who  had  followed 
coiumbus  *ne  Court  from  Segovia  to  Salamanca,  thence  to  Yal- 
iSnre  vSi*.  ladolid,  was  now  unable  to  move  further  in  his  decrep- 
grSt  Philip  itude,  and  sent  the  Adelantado  to  propitiate  the 
and  Juana.  daughter  of  Isabella,  with  the  trust  that  something  of 
her  mother's  sympathy  might  be  vouchsafed  to  his  entreaties. 
Bartholomew  never  saw  his  brother  again,  and  was  not  privi 
leged  to  communicate  to  him .  the  gracious  hopes  which  the  be 
nignity  of  his  reception  raised. 

A  year  had  passed  since  the  Admiral  had  come  to  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  Court,  wherever  it  was,  and  nothing  had  been 
accomplished  in  respect  to  his  personal  interests.  Indeed,  little 
touching  the  Indies  at  all  seems  to  have  been  done.  There  had 
Negroes  sent  been  trial  made  of  sending  negro  slaves  to  Espanola 
to  Espanoia.  ag  indjcating  that  the  native  bondage  needed  reinforce 
ment  ;  but  Ovando  had  reported  that  the  experiment  was  a  fail 
ure,  since  the  negroes  only  mixed  with  the  Indians  and  taught 
them  bad  habits.  Ferdinando  cared  little  for  this,  and  at  Sego 
via,  September  15,  1505,  he  notified  Ovando  that  he  should 
send  some  more  negroes.  Whether  Columbus  was  aware  of 
this  change  in  the  methods  of  extracting  gold  from  the  soil  we 
cannot  find. 

As  soon  as  Bartholomew  had  started  on  his  mission  the  mal 
ady  of  Columbus  increased.     He  became  conscious  that  the 
time  had  come  to  make  his  final  dispositions.     It  was  on  May 
4, 1506,  according  to  the  common  story,  that  he  signed 

1506.    May  ,.   '       ,       ,  .     °    .,,  ,,       ,  J'    .  ,  . 

4.   codicil     a  codicil  to  his  will  on  a  blank  page  in  a  breviary 

to  his  will.  ,  .   ,     ,      ,    ,  .  ,  .  f  ,         ., 

which  had  been  given  to  him,  as  he  says,  by  Alexan 
der  VI.,  and  which  had  "  comforted  him  in  his  battles,  his  cap 
tivities,  and  his  misfortunes."  This  document  has  been  ac 
cepted  by  some  of  the  commentators  as  genuine ;  Harrisse  and 
others  are  convinced  of  its  apocryphal  character.  It  was  not 
found  till  1779.  It  is  a  strange  document,  if  authentic.  It 
holds  that  such  dignities  as  were  his  under  the  Spanish  Crown, 
acknowledged  or  not,  were  his  of  right  to  alienate  from  the 


COLUMBUS' S  LAST   YEARS.  489 

Spanish  throne.  It  was,  if  anything,  a  mere  act  of  bravado, 
as  if  to  flout  at  the  authority  which  could  dare  deprive  him  of 
his  possessions.  He  provides  for  the  descent  of  his  honors  in 
the  male  line,  and  that  failing,  he  bequeaths  them  to  the  repub 
lic  of  Genoa!  It  was  a  gauge  of  hostile  demands  on  Spain 
which  no  one  but  a  madman  would  imagine  that  Th0ughtto 
Genoa  would  accept  if  she  could.  He  bestowed  on  besPurious- 
his  native  city,  in  the  same  reckless  way,  the  means  to  erect  a 
hospital,  and  designated  that  such  resources  should  come  from 
his  Italian  estates,  whatever  they  were.  Certainly  the  easiest 
way  to  dispose  of  the  paper  is  to  consider  it  a  fraud.  If  such,  it 
was  devised  by  some  one  who  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  Ad 
miral's  madness,  and  made  the  most  of  rumors  that  had  been 
afloat  respecting  Columbus's  purposes  to  benefit  Genoa  at  the 
expense  of  Spain. 

About  a  fortnight  later  (May  19),  he  ratified  an  undoubted 
will,  which  had  been  drafted  by  his  own  hand  the  year 
before  at  Segovia,  and  executed  it  with  the  customary  10.  'Ratified 
formalities.  Its  testamentary  provisions  were  not  un 
natural.  He  made  Diego  his  heir,  and  his  entailed  property 
was,  in  default  of  heirs  to  Diego,  to  pass  to  his  illegitimate 
son  Ferdinand,  and  from  him,  in  like  default,  to  his  own  brother, 
the  Adelantado,  and  his  male  descendants  ;  and  all  such  failing, 
to  the  female  lines  in  a  similar  succession.  He  enjoined  upon 
his  I'epresentatives,  of  whatever  generation,  to  serve  the  Span 
ish  King  with  fidelity.  Upon  Diego,  and  upon  later  heads  of 
the  family,  he  imposed  the  duty  of  relieving  all  distressed  rela 
tives  and  others  in  poverty.  He  imposed  on  his  lawful  son  the 
appointment  of  some  one  of  his  lineage  to  live  constantly  in 
Genoa,  to  maintain  the  family  dignity.  He  directed  him  to 
grant  due  allowances  to  his  brother  and  uncle ;  and  when  the 
estates  yielded  the  means,  to  erect  a  chapel  in  the  Vega  of 
Espanola,  where  masses  might  be  said  daily  for  the  repose  of 
the  souls  of  himself  and  of  his  nearest  relatives.  He  made 
the  furthering  of  the  crusade  to  recover  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
equally  contingent  upon  the  increase  of  his  income.  He  also  di 
rected  Diego  to  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  Donna  Bea 
trix  Enriquez,  the  mother  of  Ferdinand,  as  "  a  person  to  whom 
I  am  under  great  obligations,"  and  "let  this  be  done  for  the 
discharge  of  my  conscience,  for  it  weighs  heavy  on  my  soul,  — 


490 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


the  reasons  for  which  I  am  not  here  permitted  to  give ; "  and 
this  was  a  behest  that  Diego,  in  his  own  will,  acknowledges  his 
failure  to  observe  during  the  last  years  of  the  lady's  life. 
Then,  in  a  codicil,  Columbus  enumerates  sundry  little  bequests 
to  other  persons  to  whom  he  was  indebted,  and  whose  kindness 
he  wished  to  remember.  He  was  honest  enough  to  add  that  his 
bequests  were  imaginary  unless  his  rights  were  acknowledgedo 
"  Hitherto  I  neither  have  had,  nor  have  I  now,  any  positive  in 
come."  He  failed  to  express  any  wish  respecting  the  spot  of 
his  interment.  The  documents  were  committed  at  once  to  a  no 
tary,  from  whose  archives  a  copy  was  obtained  in  1524  by  his 
son  Diego,  and  this  copy  exists  to-day  among  the  family  papers 
in  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Veragua. 

This  making  of  a  will  was  almost  his  last  act.     On  the  next 

day  he  partook  of  the  sacrament,  and  uttering,  "  Into 

20.  'coium-  thy  hands,  O  Lord,  I  commit  my  spirit,"  he  gasped 

"**       his  last.      It  was  on  the  20th  of  May,  1506,  — by 

some  circumstances  we  might  rather  say  May  21,  —  in  the  city 


HOUSE   WHERE   COLUMBUS  DIED. 
[From  Ruge's  Geschichte  des  Zeitalters  der  Entdeckungen.'] 

of  Valladolid,  that  this  singular,  hopeful,  despondent,  melan 
choly  life  came  to  its  end.  He  died  at  the  house  No.  7  Calle 
de  Colon,  which  is  still  shown  to  travelers. 

There   was   a   small   circle   of   relatives   and    friends   who 


COLUMBUS'S  LAST   YEARS.  491 

mourned.      The  tale  of  his  departure  came  like  a   sough  of 
wind  to  a  few  others,  who  had  seen  no  way  to  alleviate  a  misery 
that  merited  their  sympathy.     The  King  could  have  but  found 
it  a  relief  from  the  indiscretion  of  his  early  promises.     The 
world  at  large  thought  no  more  of  the  mournful  pro-  His  death 
cession  which  bore  that  wayworn  body  to  the  grave  unnotlced- 
than  it  did  of  any  poor  creature  journeying  on  his  bier  to  the 
potter's  field. 

It  is  hard  to  conceive  how  the  fame  of  a  man  over  whose  acts 
in  1493  learned  men  cried  for  joy,  and  by  whose  deeds  the  ad 
venturous  spirit  had  been  stirred  in  every  seaport  of  western 
Europe,  should  have  so  completely  passed  into  oblivion  that  a 
professed  chronicler  like  Peter  Martyr,  busy  tattler  as  he  was, 
should  take  no  notice  of  his  illness  and  death.  There  have 
come  down  to  us  five  long  letters  full  of  news  and  gossip,  which 
Martyr  wrote  from  Valladolid  at  this  very  time,  with  not  a 
word  in  them  of  the  man  he  had  so  often  commemorated.  Fra- 
canzio  da  Montalboddo,  publishing  in  1507  some  correction  of 
his  early  voyages,  had  not  heard  of  Columbus's  death ;  nor  had 
Madrignano  in  dating  his  Latin  rendering  of  the  same  book  in 
1508.  It  was  not  till  twenty-seven  days  after  the  death-bed 
scene  that  the  briefest  notice  was  made  in  passing,  in  an  official 
document  of  the  town,  to  the  effect  that  "  the  said  Admiral  is 
dead ! " 

It  is  not  even  certain  where  the  body  was  first  placed,  though 
it  is  usually  affirmed  to  have  been  deposited  in  the 
Franciscan  convent  in  Valladolid.     Nor  is  there  any 
evidence  to  support  another  equally  prevalent  story  that  King- 
Ferdinand  had  ordered  the  removal  of  the  remains  to  Seville 
seven   years   later,  when  a    monument  was  built  bearing   the 
often-quoted  distich,  — 

X    CASTILLA   Y   X    LEON 
NUEVO    MUNDO     DIO     COLON,  — 

it   being  pretty  evident   that  such   an   inscription  was   never 
thought  of  till  Castellanos  suggested  it  in  his  Elegias  in  1588. 
If  Diego's  will  in  1509  can  be  interpreted  on  this  matter,  it 
seems   pretty  sure   that   within  three  years   (1509)   after  the 
death  of  Columbus,  instead  of  seven,  his  coffin  had 
been  conveyed  to  Seville  and  placed  inside  the  convent  carried  to 
of  Las  Cuevas,  in  the  vault  of  the  Carthusians,  where 


492  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

the  bodies  of  his  son  Diego  and  brother  Bartholomew  were  in 
due  time  to  rest  beside  his  own.  Here  the  remains  were  un 
disturbed  till  1536,  when  the  records  of  the  convent  affirm  that 
they  were  given  up  for  transportation,  though  the  royal  order 
is  given  as 'of  June  2,  1537.  From  that  date  till  1549  there  is 
room  for  conjecture  as  to  their  abiding-place. 

It  was  during  this  interval  that  his  family  were  seeking  to 
carry  out  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  wish  of  the  Admiral  to 
rest  finally  in  the  island  of  Espanola.  From  1537  to  1540  the 
government  are  known  to  have  issued  three  different  orders  re 
specting  the  removal  of  the  remains,  and  it  is  conjectured  the 
iMi.  Re-  transference  was  actually  made  in  1541,  shortly  after 
saatc?:Do-  tne  completion  of  the  cathedral  at  Santo  Domingo. 

If  any  record  was  made  at  the  time  to  designate  the 
spot  of  the  reentombment  in  that  edifice,  it  is  not  now  known, 
and  it  was  not  till  1676  that  somebody  placed  an  entry  in  its  rec 
ords  that  the  burial  had  been  made  on  the  right  of  the  altar. 
A  few  years  later  (1683),  the  recollections  of  aged  people  are 
quoted  to  substantiate  such  a  statement.  We  find  no  other  no 
tice  till  a  century  afterwards,  when,  on  the  occasion  of  some  re 
pairs,  a  stone  vault,  supposed  in  the  traditions  to  be  that  which 
held  the  remains,  was  found  on  "  the  gospel  side  "  of  the  chan 
cel,  while  another  on  "  the  epistle  side  "  was  thought  to  contain 
the  remains  of  Bartholomew  Columbus.  This  was  the  suspected 
situation  of  the  graves  when  the  treaty  of  Basle,  in  1795,  gave 
the  Santo  Domingo  end  of  the  island  to  France,  and  the  Span 
ish  authorities,  acting  in  concert  with  the  Duke  of  Veragua,  as 
the  representative  of  the  family  of  Columbus,  determined  on 

the  removal  of  the  remains  to  Havana.  It  is  a  ques- 
removedto  tion  which  has  been  raised  since  1877  whether  the 

body  of  Columbus  was  the  one  then  removed,  and 
over  which  so  much  parade  was  made  during  the  transportation 
and  reinterment  in  Cuba.  There  has  been  a  controversy  on  the 
point,  in  which  the  Bishop  of  Santo  Domingo  and  his  adher 
ents  have  claimed  that  the  remains  of  Columbus  are  still  in 
their  charge,  while  it  was  those  of  his  son  Diego  which  had 
been  removed.  The  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid  have  de 
nied  this,  and  in  a  long  report  to  the  Spanish  government  have 
asserted  that  there  was  no  mistake  in  the  transfer,  and  that  the 
additional  casket  found  was  that  of  Christopher  Colon,  the 


494  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

grandson.  It  was  represented,  moreover,  that  those  features  of 
the  inscription  on  the  lately  found  leaden  box  which  seemed  to 
indicate  it  as  the  casket  of  the  first  Admiral  of  the  Indies  had 
Question  of  been  fraudulently  added  or  altered.  The  question  has 
ofehtee?elty  probably  been  thrown  into  the  category  of  doubt, 
though  the  case  as  presented  in  favor  of  Santo  Do 
mingo  has  some  recognizably  weak  points,  which  the  advocates 
of  the  other  side  have  made  the  most  of,  and  to  the  satisfaction 
perhaps  of  the  more  careful  inquirers.  The  controversial  liter 
ature  on  the  subject  is  considerable.  The  repairs  of  1877  in 
the  Santo  Domingo  cathedral  revealed  the  empty  vault  from 
which  the  transported  body  had  been  taken  ;  but  they  showed 
also  the  occupied  vault  of  the  grandson  Luis,  and  another  in 
which  was  a  leaden  case  which  bore  the  inscriptions  which  are 
in  dispute. 

It  is  the  statement  of  the  Historie  that  Columbus  preserved 
Alleged  bur-  tne  chains  in  which  he  had  come  home  from  his  third 
chains'wlth  vovage»  an(l  that  he  nad  them  buried  with  him,  or  in 
tended  to  do  so.  The  story  is  often  repeated,  but  it 
has  no  other  authority  than  the  somewhat  dubious  one  of  that 
book ;  and  it  finds  no  confirmation  in  Las  Casas,  Peter  Martyr, 
Bernaldez,  or  Oviedo. 

Humboldt  says  that  he  made  futile  inquiry  of  those  who  had 
assisted  in  the  reinterment  at  Havana,  if  there  were  any  trace 
of  these  fetters  or  of  oxide  of  iron  in  the  coffin.  In  the  ac 
counts  of  the  recent  discovery  of  remains  at  Santo  Domingo,  it 
is  said  that  there  was  equally  no  trace  of  fetters  in  the  casket. 

The  age  of  Columbus  is  almost  without  a  parallel,  presenting 
The  age  of  perhaps  the  most  striking  appearances  since  the  star 
coiumbus.  gllone  Up0n  Bethlehem.  It  saw  Martin  Luther  burn 
the  Pope's  bull,  and  assert  a  new  kind  of  independence.  It 
added  Erasmus  to  the  broadeners  of  life.  Ancient  art  was 
revivified  in  the  discovery  of  its  most  significant  remains.  Mod 
ern  art  stood  confessed  in  Da  Yinci,  Michael  Angelo,  Titian, 
Raphael,  Holbein,  and  Durer.  Copernicus  found  in  the  skies 
a  wonderful  development  without  great  telescopic  help.  The 
route  of  the  Portuguese  by  the  African  cape  and  the  voyage  of 
Columbus  opened  new  worlds  to  thought  and  commerce.  They 
made  the  earth  seem  to  man,  north  and  south,  east  and  west,  as 


THE  AGE   OF  COLUMBUS. 


495 


STATUE   OF   COLUMBUS  AT   SANTO   DOMINGO. 


496  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

man  never  before  had  imagined  it.  It  looked  as  if  mercantile 
endeavor  was  to  be  constrained  by  no  bounds.  Articles  of  trade 
were  multiplied  amazingly.  Every  movement  was  not  only 
new  and  broad,  but  it  was  rapid  beyond  conception.  It  was 
more  like  the  remodeling  of  Japan,  which  we  have  seen  in  our 
day,  than  anything  that  had  been  earlier  known. 

The  long  sway  of  the  Moors  was  disintegrating.  The  Arab 
domination  in  science  and  seamanship  was  yielding  to  the  Wes 
tern  genius.  The  Turks  had  in  the  boyhood  (1453)  of  Colum* 
bus  consummated  their  last  great  triumph  in  the  capture  of 
Constantinople,  thus  placing  a  barrier  to  Christian  commerce 
with  the  East.  This  conquest  drove  out  the  learned  Christians 
of  the  East,  who  had  drunk  of  the  Arab  erudition,  and  they 
fled  with  their  stores  of  learning  to  the  western  lands,  coming 
back  to  the  heirs  of  the  Romans  with  the  spirit  which  Rome  in 
the  past  had  sent  to  the  East. 

But  what  Christian  Europe  was  losing  in  the  East  Portugal 
and  Prince  Henry  were  gaining  for  her  in  the  great  and  forbid 
ding  western  waste  of  waters  and  along  its  African  shores.  As 
the  hot  tide  of  Mahometan  invasion  rolled  over  the  Bosphorus, 
the  burning  equatorial  zone  was  pierced  from  the  north  along 
the  coasts  of  the  Black  Continent. 

Italy,  seeing  her  maritime  power  drop  away  as  the  naval 
Italian  die-  supremacy  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  rose,  was  forced 
coverers.  ^Q  gen(j  ner  experience(j  navigators  to  the  oceanic 

ports,  to  maintain  the  supremacy  of  her  name  and  genius  in 
Cadamosto,  Columbus,  Vespucius,  Cabot,  and  Verrazano.  Those 
cosmographical  views  which  had  come  down  the  ages,  at  times 
obscured,  then  for  a  while  patent,  and  of  which  the  traces  had 
lurked  in  the  minds  of  learned  men  by  an  almost  continuous  se 
quence  for  many  centuries,  at  last  possessed  by  inheritance  the 
mind  of  Columbus.  By  reading,  by  conference  with  others,  by 
noting  phenomena,  and  by  reasoning,  in  the  light,  of  all  these, 
upon  the  problem  of  a  western  passage  to  India,  obvious  as  it 
was  if  once  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  be  acknowledged,  he 
His  growing  gradually  grew  to  be  confident  in  himself  and  trustful 
wMtom  pa£  i*1  his  agency  with  others.  He  was  far  from  being 
alone  in  his  beliefs,  nor  was  his  age  anything  more 
than  a  reflection  of  long  periods  of  like  belief.  There  was 
simply  needed  a  man  with  courage  and  constancy  in  his  convic- 


THE   CHARACTER    OF  COLUMBUS.  497 

tions,  so  that  the  theory  could  be  demonstrated.  This  age  pro 
duced  him.  Enthusiasm  and  the  contagion  of  palpable  though 
shadowy  truths  gave  Columbus,  after  much  tribulation,  the 
countenance  in  high  quarters  that  enabled  him  to  reach  success, 
deceptive  though  it  was.  It  would  have  been  well  for  his  mem 
ory  if  he  had  died  when  his  master  work  was  done.  With  his 
great  aim  certified  by  its  results,  though  they  were  far  from 
being  what  he  thought,  he  was  unfortunately  left  in  the  end  to 
be  laid  bare  on  trial,  a  common  mortal  after  all,  the  creature  of 
buffeting  circumstances,  and  a  weakling  in  every  ele-  Deficiencies 
ment  of  command.  His  imagination  had  availed  him  of  character- 
in  his  upward  course  when  a  serene  habit  in  his  waiting  days 
could  obscure  his  defects.  Later,  the  problems  he  encountered 
were  those  that  required  an  eye  to  command,  with  tact  to  per 
suade  and  skill  to  coerce,  and  he  had  none  of  them. 

The  man  who  becomes  the  conspicuous  developer  of  any  great 
world-movement  is  usually  the  embodiment  of  the  ripened  as 
pirations  of  his  time.  Such  was  Columbus.  It  is  the  forerun 
ner,  the  man  who  has  little  countenance  in  his  age,  who  points 
the  way  for  some  hazardous  after-soul  to  pursue.  Such  was 
Ro«'er  Bacon,  the  English  Franciscan.  It  was  Bacon's 

1     j.  V  j.     •     J.  1        xl  £     R°Ser  Ba- 

lot  to  direct  into  proper  channels  the  new  surg-ingr  or   con  and 

, ,  .  ,    i         •  i-i  •      i  -i     i        xi         Columbus. 

the  experimental  sciences  which  was  induced  by  the 
revived  study  of  Aristotle,  and  was  carrying  dismay  into  the 
strongholds  of  Platonism.     Standing  out  from  the  background 
of  Arab  regenerating  learning,  the  name  of  Roger  Bacon,  linked 
often  with  that  of  Albertus  Magnus,  stood  for  the  best  know 
ledge  and  insight  of  the  thirteenth  century.     Bacon  it  was  who 
gave  that  tendency  to  thought  which,  seized  by  Cardinal  Pierre 
d'Ailly,  and  incorporated  by  him  in  his  Imago  Mundi 
(1410),  became  the  link  between  Bacon  and  Colum-  iy>*  imago 
bus.     Humboldt  has  indeed  expressed  his  belief  that 
this  encyclopaedic  Survey  of  the  World  exercised  a  more  im 
portant  influence  upon  the  discovery  of  America  than  even  the 
prompting  which  Columbus  got  from  his  correspondence  with 
Toscanelli.     How  well  Columbus  pored  over  the  pages  of  the 
Imago  Mundi  we  know  from  the  annotations  of  his  own  copy, 
which  is  still  preserved  in  the  Biblioteca  Colombina.     It  seems 
likely  that  Columbus  got  directly  from  this  book  most  that 
he  knew  of  those  passages  in  Aristotle,   Strabo,  and  Seneca 


498  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

which  spe^k  of  the  Asiatic  shores  as  lying  opposite  to  Hispa- 
nia.  There  is  some  evidence  that  this  book  was  his  companion 
even  on  his  voyages,  and  Humboldt  points  out  how  he  trans 
lates  a  passage  from  it,  word  for  word,  when  in  1498  he 
embodied  it  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  sovereigns  from 
Espanola. 

If  we  take  the  pains,  as  Humboldt  did,  to  examine  the  writ 
ings  of  Columbus,  to  ascertain  the  sources  which  he 
quaintance  cited,  we  find  what  appears  to  be  a  broad  acquaintance 
eMer  writ-  with  books.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that 
the  Admiral  quoted  usually  at  second  hand,  and  that 
he  got  his  acquaintance  with  classic  authors,  at  least,  mainly 
through  this  Imago  Mundi  of  Pierre  d'Ailly.  Humboldt,  in 
making  his  list  of  Columbus' s  authors,  omits  the  references  to 
the  Scriptures  and  to  the  Church  fathers,  "  in  whom,"  as  he 
says,  "  Columbus  was  singularly  versed,"  and  then  gives  the 
following  catalogue :  — 

Aristotle  ;  Julius  Caesar ;  Strabo ;  Seneca ;  Pliny ;  Ptolemy ; 
Solinus ;  Julius  Capitolinus ;  Alf  razano ;  Avenruyz ;  Rabbi  Sam 
uel  de  Israel ;  Isidore,  Bishop  of  Seville ;  the  Venerable  Bede  ; 
Strabus,  Abbe  of  Reichenau ;  Duns  Scotus ;  Francois  Mayronis ; 
Abbe  Joachim  de  Calabre ;  Sacrobosco,  being  in  fact  the  Eng 
lish  mathematician  Holywood ;  Nicholas  de  Lyra,  the  Norman 
Franciscan  ;  King  Alfonso  the  Wise,  and  his  Moorish  scribes  ; 
Cardinal  Pierre  d'Ailly;  Gerson,  Chancellor  of  the  Univer 
sity  of  Paris ;  Pope  Pius  II.,  otherwise  known  as  ^Eneas  Syl 
vius  Piccolomini ;  Regioinontanus,  as  the  Latinized  name  of 
Johann  Miiller  of  Konigsberg  is  given,  though  Columbus  does 
not  really  name  him ;  Paolo  Toscanelli,  the  Florentine  physi 
cian  ;  and  Nicolas  de  Conti,  of  whom  he  had  heard  through 
Toscanelli,  perhaps. 

Humboldt  can  find  110  evidence  that  Columbus  had  read  the 
travels  of  Marco  Polo,  and  does  not  discover  why  Navarrete 
holds  that  he  had,  though  Polo's  stories  must  have  permeated 
much  that  Columbus  read  ;  nor  does  he  understand  why  Ir 
ving  says  that  Columbus  took  Marco  Polo's  book  on  his  first 
voyage. 

We  see  often  in  the  world's  history  a  simultaneousness  in 
the  regeneration  of  thought.  Here  and  there  a  seer  works 
on  in  ignorance  of  some  obscure  brother  elsewhere.  Rumor 


COLUMBUS'S  LAST   YEAR.  499 

and  circulating  manuscripts  bring  them  into  sympathy.     They 
grow  by  the  correlation.      It  is  just  this  correspondence  that 
confronts  us  in  Columbus  and  Toscaiielli,  and  it  is  not 
quite,  but  almost,  perceptible  that  this  wise  Floren-  andTosca- 
tine  doctor  was  the  first,  despite  Humboldt's  theory, 
to  plant  in  the  mind  of  Columbus  his  aspirations  for  the  truths 
of  geography.     It  is  meet  that  Columbus  should  not  be  men 
tioned  without  the  accompanying  name  of  Toscanelli.     It  was 
the  Genoese's  different  fortune  that  he  could  attempt  as  a  sea 
man  a  practical  demonstration  of  his  fellow  Italian's  views. 

Many  a  twin  movement  of  the  world's  groping  spirit  thus 
seeks  the  light.  Progress  naturally  pushes  on  parallel  lines. 
Commerce  thrusts  her  intercourse  to  remotest  regions,  while  the 
Church  yearns  for  new  souls  to  convert,  and  peers  longingly  into 
the  dim  spaces  that  skirt  the  world's  geography.  Navigators 
improve  their  methods,  and  learned  men  in  the  arts  supply 
them  with  exacter  instruments.  The  widespread  manifesta 
tions  of  all  this  new  life  at  last  crystallize,  and  Gama  and  Co 
lumbus  appear,  the  reflex  of  every  development. 

Thus  the  discovery  of  Columbus  came  in   the  ripeness  of 

time.     No  one  of  the  anterior  accidents,  susfefestinp;  a 

,  ,,  »  opportune- 

western  land,  granting  that  there  was  some  measure  ot   ness  of  ins 

fact  in  all  of  them,  had  come  to  a  world  prepared  to 
think  on  their  developments.  Vinland  was  practically  forgotten, 
wherever  it  may  have  been.  The  tales  of  Fousang  had  never 
a  listener  in  Europe.  Madoc  was  as  unknown  as  Elidacthon. 
While  the  new  Indies  were  not  in  their  turn  to  be  forgotten, 
their  discoverer  was  to  bury  himself  in  a  world  of  conjecture. 
The  superlatives  of  Columbus  soon  spent  their  influence.  The 
pioneer  was  lost  sight  of  in  the  new  currents  of  thought  which 
he  had  started.  Not  of  least  interest  among  them  was  the  cog 
nizance  of  new  races  of  men,  and  new  revelations  in  the  animal 
and  physical  kingdoms,  while  the  question  of  their  origins 
pressed  very  soon  on  the  theological  and  scientific  sense  of  the 
age. 

No  man  craves  more  than  Columbus  to   be  judged  with  all 
the  palliations  demanded  of  a  difference  of  his  own  Not  above 
age  and  ours.     No  child  of  any  age  ever  did   less  to  hisase- 
improve  his  contemporaries,  and  few  ever  did  more  to  prepare 


500  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

the  way  for  such  improvements.  The  age  created  him  and  the 
claims  for  age  kft  h*™'  There  is  no  more  conspicuous  example 
palliation.  jn  h{st;Ory  of  a  man  showing  the  path  and  losing  it. 

It  is  by  no  means  sure,  with  all  our  boast  of  benevolent  prog 
ress,  that  atrocities  not  much  short  of  those  which  we  ascribe 
to  Columbus  and  his  compeers  may  not  at  any  time  disgrace 
the  coming  as  they  have  blackened  the  past  years  of  the  nine 
teenth  century.  This  fact  gives  us  the  right  to  judge  the  in 
firmities  of  man  in  any  age  from  the  high  vantage-ground  of 
the  best  emotions  of  all  the  centuries.  In  the  application  of 
such  perennial  justice  Columbus  must  inevitably  suffer.  The 
degradation  of  the  times  ceases  to  be  an  excuse  when  the  man 
to  be  judged  stands  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  ages.  The  biogra 
pher  cannot  forget,  indeed,  that  Columbus  is  a  portrait  set  in 
the  surroundings  of  his  times  ;  but  it  is  equally  his  duty  at  the 
same  time  to  judge  the  paths  which  he  trod  by  the  scale  of  an 
eternal  nobleness. 

The  very  domination  of  this  man  in  the  history  of  two  hem 
ispheres  warrants  us  in  estimating  him  by  an  austere  sense 
of  occasions  lost  and  of  opportunities  embraced.  The  really 
great  man  is  superior  to  his  age,  and  anticipates  its  future ; 
not  as  a  sudden  apparition,  but  as  the  embodiment  of  a  long- 
growth  of  ideas  of  which  he  is  the  inheritor  and  the  capable 
Test  of  MS  exemplar.  Humboldt  makes  this  personal  domina- 
character.  fiou  Qf  ^WQ  kinds,  ^he  one  comes  from  the  direct 
influence  of  character ;  the  other  from  the  creation  of  an  idea, 
which,  freed  from  personality,  works  its  controlling  mission 
by  changing  the  face  of  things.  It  is  of  this  last  description 
that  Humboldt  makes  the  domination  of  Columbus.  It  is 
Notacrea-  extremely  doubtful  if  any  instance  can  be  found  of 
tor  of  ideas.  &  grea^  j^ea  changing  the  world's  history,  which  has 
been  created  by  any  single  man.  None  such  was  created  by 
Columbus.  There  are  always  forerunners  whose  agency  is 
postponed  because  the  times  are  not  propitious.  A  masterful 
thought  has  often  a  long  pedigree,  starting  from  a  remote  an 
tiquity,  but  it  will  be  dormant  till  it  is  environed  by  the  cir 
cumstances  suited  to  fructify  it.  This  was  just  the  destiny  of 
the  intuition  which  began  with  Aristotle  and  came  down  to  Co 
lumbus.  To  make  his  first  voyage  partook  of  foolhardiriess,  as 
many  a  looker-on  reasonably  declared.  It  was  none  the  less 


COLUMBUS'S  LAST   YEAR.  501 

foolhardy  when  it  was  done.  If  he  had  reached  the  opulent 
and  powerful  kings  of  the  Orient,  his  little  cockboats  and 
their  brave  souls  might  have  fared  hard  for  their  intrusion.  His 
blunder  in  geography  very  likely  saved  him  from  annihilation. 

The  character  of  Columbus  has  been  variously  drawn,  almost 
always  with  a  violent  projection  of  the  limner's  own 
personality.    We  find  Prescott  contending  that  "  what-  ter  differ- 
ever  the  defects  of  Columbus's  mental  constitution,  the 
finger  of  the  historian  will  find  it  difficult  to  point  to 
a  single  blemish  in  his  moral  character."     It  is  cer 
tainly  difficult  to  point  to  a  more  flagrant  disregard  of  truth 
than  when  we  find  Prescott  further  saying,  "  Whether  we  con 
template  his  character  in  its  public  or  private  relations,  in  all 
its  features  it  wears  the  same  noble  aspects.     It  was  in  perfect 
harmony  with  the  grandeur  of  his  plans,  and  with  results  more 
stupendous  than  those  which  Heaven  has  permitted  any  other 
mortal  to  achieve.''     It  is  very  striking  to  find  Prescott,  after 
thus  speaking  of  his  private  as  well  as  public  character,  and 
forgetting  the  remorse  of  Columbus  for  the  social  wrongs  he 
had  committed,  append  in  a  footnote  to  this  very  passage  a 
reference  to  his  "  illegitimate  "  son.     It  seems  to  mark  an  ob 
durate  purpose  to  disguise   the   truth.     This  is  also  nowhere 
more    patent  than   in  the   palliating  hero-worship  of 
Irving,  with  his  constant  effort  to  save  a  world's  exem 
plar  for  the  world's  admiration,  and  more  for  the  world's  sake 
than  for  Columbus's. 

Irving  at  one  time  berates  the  biographer  who  lets  "  perni 
cious  erudition  "  destroy  a  world's  exemplar  ;  and  at  another 
time  he  does  not  know  that  he  is  criticising  himself  when  he 
says  that  "  he  who  paints  a  great  man  merely  in  great  and  he 
roic  traits,  though  he  may  produce  a  fine  picture,  will  never 
present  a  faithful  portrait."  The  commendation  which  he  be 
stows  upon  Herrera  is  for  precisely  what  militates  against  the 
highest  aims  of  history,  since  he  praises  that  Spanish  histo 
rian's  disregard  of  judicial  fairness. 

In  the  being  which  Irving  makes  stand  for  the  historic  Co 
lumbus,  his  skill  in  softened  expression  induced  Humboldt  to 
suppose  that  living's  avoidance  of  exaggeration  gave  a  force 
to  his  eulogy,  but  there  was  little  need  to  exaggerate  merits,  if 
defects  were  blurred. 


502  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  learned  German  adds,  in  the  opening  of  the  third  vol 
ume  of  his   Examen  Critique,  his  own  sense  of  the 

Humboldt.        .  .  <•     /  •    i         i  rn 

impressiveness  of  Columbus.  That  impressiveness 
stands  confessed ;  but  it  is  like  a  gyrating  storm  that  knows  no 
law  but  the  vagrancy  of  destruction. 

One  need  not  look  long  to  discover  the  secret  of  Humboldt's 
estimate  of  Columbus.  Without  having  that  grasp  of  the  pic 
turesque  which  appeals  so  effectively  to  the  popular  mind  in 
the  letters  of  Vespucius,  the  Admiral  was  certainly  not  desti 
tute  of  keen  observation  of  nature,  but  unfortunately  this 
quality  was  not  infrequently  prostituted  to  ignoble  purposes. 
To  a  student  of  Humboldt's  proclivities,  these  traits  of  obser 
vation  touched  closely  his  sympathy.  He  speaks  in  his  Cos 
mos  of  the  development  of  this  exact  scrutiny  in  manifold 
directions,  notwithstanding  Columbus's  previous  ignorance  of 
natural  history,  and  tells  us  that  this  capacity  for  noting  natural 
phenomena  arose  from  his  contact  with  such.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  the  fame  of  Columbus  if  he  had  kept  this  scien 
tific  survey  in  its  purity.  It  was  simply,  for  instance,  a  vitiated 
desire  to  astound  that  made  him  mingle  theological  and  physi 
cal  theories  about  the  land  of  Paradise.  Such  jugglery  was 
promptly  weighed  in  Spain  and  Italy  by  Peter  Martyr  and 
others  as  the  wild,  disjointed  effusions  of  an  overwrought  mind, 
and  "the  reflex  of  a  false  erudition,"  as  Humboldt  expresses 
it.  It  was  palpably  by  another  effort,  of  a  like  kind,  that  he 
seized  upon  the  views  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church  that  the 
earthly  Paradise  lay  in  the  extreme  Orient,  and  he  was  quite 
as  audacious  when  he  exacted  the  oath  on  the  Cuban  coast,  to 
make  it  appear  by  it  that  he  had  really  reached  the  outermost 
parts  of  Asia. 

Humboldt  seeks  to  explain  this  errant  habit  by  calling  it 
"  the  sudden  movement  of  his  ardent  and  passionate  soul ;  the 
disarrangement  of  ideas  which  were  the  effect  of  an  incoherent 
method  and  of  the  extreme  rapidity  of  his  reading ;  while  all 
was  increased  by  his  misfortunes  and  religious  mysticism." 
Such  an  explanation  hardly  relieves  the  subject  of  it  from 
blunter  imputations.  This  urgency  for  some  responsive  wonder 
ment  at  every  experience  appears  constantly  in  the  journal  of 
Columbus's  first  voyage,  as,  for  instance,  when  he  makes  every 
harbor  exceed  in  beauty  the  last  he  had  seen.  This  was  the 


COLUMBUS 'S  LAST   YEAR.  503 

commonplace  exaggeration  which  in  our  day  is  confined  to  the 
calls  of  speculating  land  companies.  The  fact  was  that  Hum- 
boldt  transferred  to  his  hero  something  of  the  superlative  love 
of  nature  that  he  himself  had  experienced  in  the  same  regions  ; 
but  there  was  all  the  difference  between  him  and  Columbus 
that  there  is  between  a  genuine  love  of  nature  and  a  commer 
cial  use  of  it.  Whenever  Columbus  could  divert  his  mind  from 
a. purpose  to  make  the  Indies  a  paying  investment,  we  find 
some  signs  of  an  insight  that  shows  either  observation 

j-    i  •  xi  £    -j.  £  j.1  £          Observa- 

ot  his  own  or  the  garnering  or  it  trom  others,  as,  tor  tions  of  na- 
example,  when  he  remarks  on  the  decrease  of  rain  in 
the  Canaries  and  the  Azores  which  followed  upon  the  felling  of 
trees,  and  when  he  conjectures  that  the  elongated  shape  of  the 
islands  of  the  Antilles  on  the  lines  of  the  parallels  was  due  to 
the  strength  of  the  equatorial  current. 

Since  Irving,  Prescott,  and  Humboldt  did  their  work,  there 
has  sprung  up  the  unreasoning  and  ecstatic  French 
school  under  the  lead  of  Roselly  de  Lorgues,  who  Lorgues  and 
seek  to  ascribe  to  Columbus  all  the  virtues  of  a  saint. 
"  Columbus  had  no  defect  of  character  and  no  wrorldly  quality," 
they  say.  The  antiquarian  and  searching  spirit  of 
Harrisse,  and  of  those  writers  who  have  mainly  been 
led  into  the  closest  study  of  the  events  of  the  life  of  Columbus, 
has  not  done  so  much  to  mould  opinion  as  regards  the  es 
timate  in  which  the  Admiral  should  be  held  as  to  eliminate 
confusing  statements  and  put  in  order  corroborating  facts. 
The  reaction  from  the  laudation  of  the  canonizers  has  not  pro 
duced  any  writer  of  consideration  to  array  such  derogatory  esti 
mates  as  effectually  as  a  plain  recital  of  established  facts  would 
do  it.  Hubert  Bancroft,  in  the  incidental  mention  which  he 
makes  of  Columbus,  has  touched  his  character  not  inaptly,  and 
with  a  consistent  recognition  of  its  infirmities.  Even  Prescott, 
who  verges  constantly  on  the  ecstatic  elements  of  the  adulatory 
biographer,  is  forced  to  entertain  at  times  "  a  suspicion  of  a 
temporary  alienation  of  mind,"  and  in  regard  to  the  letter 
which  Columbus  wrote  from  Jamaica  to  the  sovereigns,  is 
obliged  to  recognize  "  sober  narrative  and  sound  reasoning 
strangely  blended  with  crazy  dreams  and  doleful  lamentations." 
"  Vagaries  like  these,"  he  adds,  "  which  came  occasionally  like 
clouds  over  his  soul  to  shut  out  the  light  of  reason,  cannot  fail 


504  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

to  fill  the  mind  of  the  reader,  as  they  doubtless  did  those  of 
the  sovereigns,  with  mingled  sentiments  of  wonder  and  com 
passion."  An  unstinted  denunciatory  purpose,  much  weak- 
Aaron  Good-  ened  by  an  inconsiderate  rush  of  disdain,  character 
izes  an  American  writer,  Aaron  Goodrich,  in  his  Life 
of  the  so-called  Christopher  Columbus  (New  York,  1875)  ; 
but  the  critic's  temper  is  too  peevish  and  his  opinions  are  too 
unreservedly  biased  to  make  his  results  of  any  value. 

The  mental  hallucinations  of  Columbus,  so  patent  in  his  last 
years,  were  not  beyond  recognition  at  a  much  earlier  age,  and 
those  who  would  get  the  true  import  of  his  character  must  trace 
these  sorrowful  manifestations  to  their  beginnings,  and  distin 
guish  accurately  between  Columbus  when  his  purpose  was  lofty 
and  unselfish  and  himself  ag;ain  when  he  became  mercenary  and 
erratic.  So  much  does  the  verdict  of  history  lodge  occasionally 
more  in  the  narrator  of  events  than  in  the  character 
of  them  that,  in  Humboldt's  balancing  of  the  baser 
with  the  nobler  symptoms  of  Columbus's  nature,  he  does  not 
find  even  the  most  degraded  of  his  actions  other  than  power 
ful  in  will,  and  sometimes,  at  least,  clear  in  intelligence.  There 
were  certainly  curiously  transparent,  but  transient  gleams  of 
^wisdom  to  the  last.  Humboldt  further  says  that  the  faith  of 
Columbus  soothed  his  dreary  and  weary  adversities  by  the 
charm  of  ascetic  reveries.  So  a  handsome  euphuism  tries  to 
save  his  fame  from  harsher  epithets. 

It  was  a  faith,  says  the  same  delineator,  which  justified  at 
need,  under  the  pretext  of  a  religious  object,  the  employment 
of  deceit  and  the  excess  of  a  despotic  power  ;  a  tenderer  form, 
doubtless,  of  the  vulgar  expression  that  the  end  sanctifies  the 
means.  It  is  not,  however,  within  the  practice  of  the  better  his 
torical  criticism  of  our  day  to  let  such  elegant  wariness  beguile 
the  reader's  mind.  If  the  different,  not  to  say  more  advanced, 
condition  of  the  critical  mind  is  to  be  of  avail  to  a  new  age 
through  the  advantage  gained  from  all  the  ages,  it  is  in  pre 
cisely  this  emancipation  from  the  trammels  of  traditionary  bond 
age  that  the  historian  asserts  his  own,  and  dispels  the  glamour 
of  a  conventionalized  hero-worship. 

Dr.  Shea,  our  most  distinguished  Catholic  scholar,  who  has 

Dr.  j.  G.       dealt  with   the   character  of   Columbus,  says  :    "  He 

accomplished  less  than  some  adventurers  with  poor 


COLUMBUS' 'S  LAST   YEAR.  505 

equipped  vessels.  He  seems  to  have  succeeded  in  attaching  but 
few  men  to  him  who  adhered  loyally  to  his  cause.  Those  under 
him  were  constantly  rebellious  and  mutinous ;  those  over  him 
found  him  impracticable.  To  array  all  these  as  enemies,  in 
spired  by  a  satanic  hostility  to  a  great  servant  of  God,  is  to  ask 
too  much  for  our  belief  ;  "  and  yet  this  is  precisely  what  Irving 
by  constant  modifications,  and  De  Lorgues  in  a  monstrous  de- 
^ree;  feel  themselves  justified  in  doing. 

There  is  nothing  in  Columbus's  career  that  these  French  can- 
onizers  do  not  find  convertible  to  their  purpose,  The  French 
whether  it  be  his  wild  vow  to  raise  4,000  horse  and  canonizers- 
50,000  foot  in  seven  years,  wherewith  to  snatch  the  Holy  Sepul 
chre  from  the  infidel,  or  the  most  commonplace  of  his  canting 
ejaculations.  That  Columbus  was  a  devout  Catholic,  according 
to  the  Catholicism  of  his  epoch,  does  not  admit  of  question,  but 
when  tried  by  any  test  that  finds  the  perennial  in  holy  acts, 
Columbus  fails  to  bear  the  examination.  He  had  nothing  of  the 
generous  and  noble  spirit  of  a  conjoint  lover  of  man  and  of 
God,  as  the  higher  spirits  of  all  times  have  developed  it.  There 
was  no  all-loving  Deity  in  his  conception.  His  Lord  was  one 
in  whose  name  it  was  convenient  to  practice  enormities.  He 
shared  this  subterfuge  with  Isabella  and  the  rest.  We  need  to 
think  on  what  Las  Casas  could  be  among  his  contemporaries, 
if  we  hesitate  to  apply  the  conceptions  of  an  everlasting 
humanity. 

The  mines  which  Columbus  went  to  seek  were  hard  to  find. 
The  people  he  went  to  save  to  Christ  were  easy  to  exterminate. 
He  mourned  bitterly  that  his  own  efforts  were  ill  requited.  He 
had  no  pity  for  the  misery  of  others,  except  they  be  his  depen 
dents  and  co-sharers  of  his  purposes.  He  found  a  policy  worth 
commemorating  in  slitting  the  noses  and  tearing  off  the  ears  of 
a  naked  heathen.  He  vindicates  his  excess  by  impressing  upon 
the  world  that  a  man  setting  out  to  conquer  the  Indies  must 
not  be  judged  by  the  amenities  of  life  which  belong  to  a  quiet 
rule  in  established  countries.  Yet,  with  a  chance  to  establish  a 
humane  life  among  peoples  ready  to  be  moulded  to  good  pur 
poses,  he  sought  from  the  very  first  to  organize  among  them 
the  inherited  evils  of  "  established  countries."  He  converts 
talked  a  great  deal  about  making  converts  of  the  poor  and  slaves- 
souls,  while  the  very  first  sight  which  he  had  of  them  prompted 


506  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

him  to  consign  them  to  the  slave-mart,  just  as  if  the  first  step 
to  Christianize  was  the  step  which  unmans. 

The  first  vicar  apostolic  sent  to  teach  the  faith  in  Santo  Do 
mingo  returned  to  Spain,  no  longer  able  to  remain,  powerless, 
in  sight  of  the  cruelties  practiced  by  Columbus.  Isabella  pre 
vented  the  selling  of  the  natives  as  slaves  in  Spain,  when  Co= 
lumbus  had  dispatched  thither  five  shiploads.  Las  Casas  tells 
us  that  in  1494-96  Columbus  was  generally  hated  in  Espanola 
for  his  odiousness  and  injustice,  and  that  the  Admiral's  policy 
with  the  natives  killed  a  third  of  them  in  those  two  years.  The 
Franciscans,  when  they  arrived  at  the  island,  found  the  colonists 
exuberant  that  they  had  been  relieved  of  the  rule  which  Colum 
bus  had  instituted ;  and  the  Benedictines  and  Dominicans 
added  their  testimony  to  the  same  effect. 

The  very  first  words,  as  has  been  said,  that  he  used,  in  con- 
He  urges  en-  veying  *°  expectant  Europe  the  wonders  of  his  dis- 
native I  f rom  covery,  suggested  a  scheme  of  enslaving  the  strange 
the  first.  people.  He  had  already  made  the  voyage  that  of  a 
kidnapper,  by  entrapping  nine  of  the  unsuspecting  natives. 

On  his  second  voyage  he  sent  home  a  vessel-load  of  slaves,  on 
the  pretense  of  converting  them,  but  his  sovereigns  intimated  to 
him  that  it  would  cost  less  to  convert  them  in  their  own  homes. 
Then  he  thought  of  the  righteous  alternative  of  sending  some  to 
Spain  to  be  sold  to  buy  provisions  to  support  those  who  would 
convert  others  in  their  homes.  The  monarchs  were  perhaps 
dazed  at  this  sophistry ;  and  Columbus  again  sent  home  four 
vessels  laden  with  reeking  cargoes  of  flesh.  When  he  re 
turned  to  Spain,  in  1496,  to  circumvent  his  enemies,  he  once 
more  sought  in  his  turn,  and  by  his  reasoning,  to  cheat  the 
devil  of  heathen  souls  by  sending  other  cargoes.  At  last  the 
line  was  drawn.  It  was  not  to  save  their  souls,  but  to  punish 
them  for  daring  to  war  against  the  Spaniards,  that  they  should 
be  made  to  endure  such  horrors. 

It  is  to  Columbus,  also,  that  we  trace  the  beginning  of  that 
monstrous  guilt  which  Spanish  law  sanctioned  under  the  name 
of  repartimientos,  and  by  which  to  every  colonist,  and  even  to 
the  vilest,  absolute  power  was  given  over  as  many  natives  as  his 
means  and  rank  entitled  him  to  hold.  Las  Casas  tells  us  that 
Ferdinand  could  hardly  have  had  a  conception  of  the  enormi 
ties  of  the  system.  If  so,  it  was  because  he  winked  out  of  sight 


COLUMBUS' S  £AST   YEAR.  507 

the  testimony  of  observers,  while  he  listened  to  the  tales 
prompted  of  greed,  rapine,  and  cruelty.  The  value  of  the  sys 
tem  to  force  heathen  out  of  hell,  and  at  the  same  time  to  re 
plenish  his  treasury,  was  the  side  of  it  presented  to  Ferdinand's 
mind  by  such  as  had  access  to  his  person.  In  1501,  we  find  the 
Dominicans  entering  their  protest,  and  by  this  Ferdinand  was 
moved  to  take  the  counsel  of  men  learned  in  the  law  and  in 
what  passed  in  those  days  for  Christian  ethics.  This  court  of 
appeal  approved  these  necessary  efforts,  as  was  claimed,  to  in 
crease  those  who  were  new  to  the  faith,  and  to  reward  those 
who  supported  it. 

Peter  Martyr  expressed  the  comforting  sentiments  of  the  age : 
"  National  right  and  that  of  the  Church  concede  personal  lib 
erty  to  man.  State  policy,  however,  demurs.  Custom  repels  the 
idea.  Long  experience  shows  that  slavery  is  necessary  to  pre 
vent  those  returning  to  their  idolatry  and  error  whom  the  Church 
has  once  gained."  All  professed  servants  of  the  Church,  with  a 
few  exceptions  like  Las  Casas,  ranged  themselves  with  Colum 
bus  on  the  side  of  such  specious  thoughts  ;  and  Las  Casas,  in  rec 
ognizing  this  fact,  asks  what  we  could  expect  of  an  old  sailor  and 
fighter  like  Columbus,  when  the  wisest  and  most  respectable  of 
the  priesthood  backed  him  in  his  views.  It  was  indeed  the 
misery  of  Columbus  to  miss  the  opportunity  of  being  wiser  than 
his  fellows,  the  occasion  always  sought  by  a  commanding  spirit, 
and  it  was  offered  to  him  almost  as  to  no  other. 

There  was  no  restraining  the  evil.  The  cupidity  of  the  colo 
nists  overcame  all  obstacles.  The  Queen  was  beguiled  into  giv 
ing  equivocal  instructions  to  Ovando,  who  succeeded  progressof 
to  Bobadilla,  and  out  of  them  by  interpretation  grew  S^westV 
an  increase  of  the  monstrous  evil.  In  1503,  every  c 
atrocity  had  reached  a  legal  recognition.  Labor  was  forced  ; 
the  slaves  were  carried  whither  the  colonists  willed  ;  and  for 
eight  months  at  least  in  every  year,  families  were  at  pleasure 
disrupted  without  mercy.  One  feels  some  satisfaction  in  see 
ing  Columbus  himself  at  last,  in  a  letter  to  Diego,  December 
1,  1504,  shudder  at  the  atrocities  of  Ovando.  When  one  sees 
the  utter  annihilation  of  the  whole  race  of  the  Antilles,  a  thing 

O 

clearly  assured  at  the  date  of  the  death  of  Columbus,  one  wishes 
that  that  dismal  death-bed  in  Valladolid  could  have  had  its 
gloom  illumined  by  a  consciousness  that  the  hand  which  lifted 


508  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

the  banner  of  Spain  and  of  Christ  at  San  Salvador  had  done 
something  to  stay  the  misery  which  cupidity  and  perverted 
piety  had  put  in  course.  When  a  man  seeks  to  find  and  parades 
reasons  for  committing  a  crime,  it  is  to  stifle  his  conscience. 
Columbus  passed  years  in  doing  it. 

Back  of  Isabella  in  this  spasmodic  interest  in  the  Indians 
was  the  celebrated  Archbishop  of  Granada,  Fernando 
de  Talavera,  whom  we  have  earlier  known  as  the  prior 
of  Prado.  He  had  been  since  1478  the  confessor  of  the  Queen,' 
and  when  the  time  came  for  sending  missionaries  to  the  An 
tilles  it  was  natural  that  they  were  of  the  order  of  St.  Jerome, 
of  which  Talavera  was  himself  a  member.  Columbus,  through 
a  policy  which  induced  him  to  make  as  apparent  as  possible  his 
The  Francis-  mingling  of  interests  with  the  Church,  had  before  this 
adopted  the  garb  of  the  Franciscans,  and  this  order 
was  the  second  in  time  to  be  seen  in  Espanola  in  1502.  They 
were  the  least  tolerant  of  the  leading  orders,  and  had  already 
shown  a  disposition  to  harass  the  Indians,  and  were  known  to 
treat  haughtily  the  Queen's  intercessions  for  the  poor  souls.  It 
was  not  till  after  the  death  of  Columbus  that  the  Dominicans, 
coming  in  1510,  reinforced  the  kindly  spirit  of  the  priests  of 
St.  Jerome.  Still  later  they  too  abandoned  their  humanity. 

The  downfall  of  Columbus  began  when  he  wrested  from  the 
reluctant  monarchs  what  he  called  his  privileges,  and  when  he 
insisted  upon  riches  as  the  accompaniment  of  such  state  and 
consequence  as  those  privileges  might  entail.  The  terms  were 
granted,  so  far  as  the  King  was  concerned,  simply  to  put  a  stop 
to  importunities,  for  he  never  anticipated  being  called  upon  to 
confirm  them.  The  insistency  of  Columbus  in  this  respect  is 
in  strange  contrast  to  the  satisfaction  which  the  captains  of 
Prince  Henry,  Da  Gama  and  the  rest,  were  content  to  find  in 
*^e  unP°Hute(l  triumphs  of  science.  The  mercenary 


mercenary      Columbus  was  forced   to  the  utterance  of  Solomon  : 

impulses. 

"  I  looked  upon  the  labor  that  I  had  labored  to  do, 
and  behold  all  was  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit."  The 
Preacher  never  had  a  better  example.  Columbus  was  wont  to 
say  that  gold  gave  the  soul  its  flight  to  paradise.  Perhaps  he 
His  praise  of  referred  to  the  masses  which  could  be  bought,  or  to 

the  alms  which  could  propitiate  Heaven.     He  might 


COLUM BUS'S  LAST    YEAR.  509 

better  have  remembered  the  words  of  warning  given  to  Baruch  : 
"  Seekest  thou  great  things  for  thyself  ?  Seek  them  not.  For, 
saith  the  Lord,  thy  life  will  I  give  unto  them  for  a  prey  in 
all  places  whither  thou  goest."  And  a  prey  in  all  places  he 
became. 

Humboldt  seeks  to  palliate  this  cupidity  by  making  him  the 
conscious  inheritor  of  the  pecuniary  chances  which  every  free 
son  of  Genoa  expected  to  find  within  his  grasp  by  commercial 
enterprise.  Such  prominence  was  sought  because  it  carried 
with  it  power  and  influence  in  the  republic. 

If  Columbus  had  found  riches  in  the  New  World  as  easily  as 
he  anticipated,  it  is  possible  that  such  affluence  would  have 
moulded  his  character  in  other  ways  for  good  or  for  evil.  He 
soon  found  himself  confronting  a  difficult  task,  to  satisfy  with 
insufficient  means  a  craving  which  his  exaggerations  had  estab 
lished.  This  led  him  to  spare  no  device,  at  whatever  sacrifice 
of  the  natives,  to  produce  the  coveted  gold,  and  it  was  an  ingen 
ious  mockery  that  induced  him  to  deck  his  captives  with  golden 
chains  and  parade  them  through  the  Spanish  towns. 

After  Da  Gama  had  opened  the  route  to  Cathay  by  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  Columbus  had,  as  he  supposed,  touched 
the  eastern  confines  of  the  same  country,  the  wonder-  Nicolas  de 
ful  stories  of  Asiatic  glories  told  by  Nicolas  de  Conti  Contl< 
were  translated,  by  order  of  King  Emanuel  (in  1500),  into 
Portuguese.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  interest  in  the  develop 
ment  of  1492  soon  waned  when  the  world  began  to  compare 
the  descriptions  of  the  region  beyond  the  Ganges,  as  made 
known  by  Marco  Polo,  and  so  recently  by  Conti,  and  the  ap 
parent  confirmation  of  them  established  by  the  Portuguese,  with 
the  meagre  resources  which  Columbus  had  associated  The  world»s 
with  the  same  country,  in  all  that  he  could  say  about  dlsgus1 
the  Antilles  or  bring  from  them.  An  adventurous  voyage 
across  the  Sea  of  Darkness  begat  little  satisfaction,  if  all  there 
was  to  show  for  it  consisted  of  men  with  tails  or  a  single  eye,  or 
races  of  Amazons  and  cannibals. 

When  we  view  the  character  of  Columbus  in  its  influence 
upon  the  minds  of  men,  we  find  some  strange  anomalies.  Be 
fore  his  passion  was  tainted  with  the  ambition  of  wealth  and 
its  consequence,  and  while  he  was  urging  the  acceptance  of  his 
views  for  their  own  sake,  it  is  very  evident  that  he  impressed 


510  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

others  in  a  way  that  never  happened  after  he  had  secured  his 
privileges.  It  is  after  this  turning-point  of  his  life  that  we 
begin  to  see  his  falsities  and  indiscretions,  or  at  least  to  find 
record  of  them.  The  incident  of  the  moving  light  in  the  night 
before  his  first  landfall  is  a  striking  instance  of  his  daring 
disregard  of  all  the  qualities  that  help  a  commander  in  his 
dominance  over  his  men.  It  needs  little  discrimination  to  dis 
cern  the  utter  deceitfulness  of  that  pretense.  A  noble  desire 
to  win  the  loftiest  honors  of  the  discovery  did  not  satisfy  a 
mean,  insatiable  greed.  He  blunted  every  sentiment 

Columbia's  &  .  J 

lack  of  of  generosity  when  he  deprived  a  poor  sailor  of  his 
pecuniary  reward.  That  there  was  no  actual  light 
to  be  seen  is  apparent  from  the  distance  that  the  discoverers 
sailed  before  they  saw  land,  since  if  the  light  had  been  ahead 
they  would  not  have  gone  on,  and  if  it  had  been  abeam  they 
would  not  have  left  it.  The  evidence  is  that  of  himself  and  a 
thrall,  and  he  kept  it  secret  at  the  time.  The  author  of  the  His- 
torie  sees  the  difficulty,  and  attempts  to  vaporize  the  whole  story 
by  saying  that  the  light  was  spiritual,  and  not  physical.  Navar- 
rete  passes  it  by  as  a  thing  necessary,  for  the  fame  of  Colum 
bus,  to  be  ignored. 

A  second  instance  of  Columbus's  luckless  impotence,  at  a 
time  when  an  honorable  man  would  have  relied  upon  his  charac 
ter,  was  the  attempt  to  make  it  appear  that  he  had  reached  the 
His  enforced  coast  of  Asia  by  imposing  an  oath  on  his  men  to  that 
•athatcuba.  effec^  jn  penalty  of  having  their  tongues  wrenched  out 
if  they  recanted.  One  can  hardly  conceive  a  more  debasing 
exercise  of  power. 

His  insistence  upon  territorial  power  was  the  serious  mistake 
HIS  ambi-  °^  ^s  ^^e-  He  thought,  in  making  an  agreement 
territorial  with  his  sovereigns  to  become  a  viceroy,  that  he  was 
securing  an  honor  ;  he  was  in  truth  pledging  his  hap 
piness  and  beggaring  his  life.  He  sought  to  attain  that  which 
the  fates  had  unfitted  him  for,  and  the  Spanish  moiiarchs,  in  an 
evil  day,  which  was  in  due  time  their  regret,  submitted  to  his 
hallucinated  dictation.  No  man  ever  evinced  less  capacity  for 
ruling  a  colony. 

The  most  sorrowful  of  all  the  phases  of  Columbus's 
fessedin-       character  is  that  hapless  collapse,  when  he  abandoned 

spiration.  n     p    •   i      •          i  •,  i\  •  •    • 

all  faith  in  the  natural  world,  and  his  premonitions 


COLUMBUS' S  LAST   YEAR.  511 

of  it,  and  threw  himself  headlong  into  the  vortex  of  what  he 
called  inspiration. 

Everything  in  his  scientific  argument  had  been  logical.  It 
produced  the  reliance  which  comes  of  wisdom.  It  was  a  manly 
show  of  an  incisive  reason.  If  he  had  rested  here  his  claims 
for  honor,  he  would  have  ranked  with  the  great  seers  of  the 
universe,  with  Copernicus  and  the  rest.  His  successful  suit 
with  the  Spanish  sovereigns  turned  his  head,  and  his  degra 
dation  began  when  he  debased  a  noble  purpose  to  the  level  of 
mercenary  claims.  He  relied,  during  his  first  voyage,  more 
on  chicanery  in  controlling  his  crew  than  upon  the  dignity  of 
his  aim  and  the  natural  command  inherent  in  a  lofty  spirit. 
This  deceit  was  the  beginning  of  his  decadence,  which  ended  in 
a  sad  self-aggrandizement,  when  he  felt  himself  no  longer  an 
instrument  of  intuition  to  probe  the  secrets  of  the  earth,  but 
a  possessor  of  miraculous  inspiration.  The  man  who  had  been 
self-contained  became  a  thrall  to  a  fevered  hallucination. 

The  earnest  mental  study  which  had  sustained  his  inquisitive 
spirit  through  long  years  of  dealings  with  the  great  physical 
problems  of  the  earth  was  forgotten.  He  hopelessly  began  to 
accredit  to  Divinity  the  measure  of  his  own  fallibility.  "  God 
made  me,"  he  says,  "  the  messenger  of  the  new  heaven  and  the 
new  earth,  of  which  He  spoke  in  the  Apocalypse  by  St.  John, 
after  having  spoken  of  it  by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah,  and  He 
showed  me  the  spot  where  to  find  it."  He  no  longer  thought 
it  the  views  of  Aristotle  which  guided  him.  The  Greek  might 
be  pardoned  for  his  ignorance  of  the  intervening  America.  It 
was  mere  sacrilege  to  impute  such  ignorance  to  the  Divine 
wisdom. 

There  is  no  excuse  but  the  plea  of  insanity.     He  naturally 
lost  his  friends  with  losing  his  manly  devotion  to  a  Lost  his 
cause.      I    do  not    find    the    beginning    of   this    sur-  fneuds- 
render  of  his  manhood  earlier  than  in  the  will  which  he  signed 
February  22,  1498,  when  he  credits  the  Holy  Trinity  with  hav 
ing  inspired  him  with  the  idea  that  one  could  go  to  the  Indies 
by  passing  westward. 

In  his  letter  to  the  nurse  of  Don  Juan,  he  says  that  the  pro 
phecy  of  Isaiah  in  the  Apocalypse  had  found  its  interpreter  in 
him,  the  messenger  to  disclose  a  new  part  of  the  world.  "  Hu 
man  reason,"  he  wrote  in  the  Proficias,  "  mathematics,  and 


512  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

maps  have  served  me  in  no  wise.  What  I  have  accomplished 
is  simply  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  of  David." 

We  have  seen  a  pitiable  man  meet  a  pitiable  death.  Hardly 
His  pitiable  a  name  in  profane  history  is  more  august  than  his. 
death.  Hardly  another  character  in  the  world's  record  has 

made  so  little  of  its  opportunities.  His  discovery  was  a  blun 
der  ;  his  blunder  was  a  new  world ;  the  New  World  is  his 
monument !  Its  discoverer  might  have  been  its  father ;  he 
proved  to  be  its  despoiler.  He  might  have  given  its  young  days 
such  a  benignity  as  the  world  likes  to  associate  with  a  maker ; 
he  left  it  a  legacy  of  devastation  and  crime.  He  might  have 
been  an  unselfish  promoter  of  geographical  science  ;  he  proved 
a  rabid  seeker  for  gold  and  a  viceroyalty.  He  might  have  won 
converts  to  the  fold  of  Christ  by  the  kindness  of  his  spirit ;  he 
gained  the  execrations  of  the  good  angels.  He  might,  like  Las 
Casas,  have  rebuked  the  fiendishness  of  his  contemporaries  ; 
he  set  them  an  example  of  perverted  belief.  The  triumph  of 
Barcelona  led  down  to  the  ignominy  of  Valladolid,  with  every 
step  in  the  degradation  palpable  and  resultant. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   DESCENT    OF   COLUMBUS'S   HONORS. 

COLUMBUS  had  left  behind  him,  as  the  natural  guardians  of 
his  name  and   honors,  the    following   relatives:    his  His kins- 
brother  Bartholomew,  who   in   December,  1508,  had  folk> 
issue  of  an  illegitimate  daughter,  his  only  child  so  far  as  known  ; 
his  brother  Diego,  who,  as  a  priest,  was  precluded  from  hav 
ing  lawful  issue ;   his  son  Diego,  now  become  the  first  inher 
itor  of  his  honors ;  his  natural  son,  Ferdinand,  the  most  con 
siderable  in  intellectual  habit  of  all  Columbus's  immediate  kin. 

The  descent  of  his  titles  depended  in  the  first  instance  on 
such  a  marriage  as  Diego  might  contract.     Within  a  His  sou 
year  or  two  Diego  had  had  by  different  women  two   Dies°- 
bastard  children,  Francisco  and  Cristoval,  shut  off  from  heir- 
ship  by  the  manner  of  their  birth.     Diego  was  at  this  time  not 
far  from  four  and  twenty  years  of  age. 

Ten  or  twelve  days  after  Diego  succeeded  to  his  inheritance, 
Philip  the  Handsome,  now  sharing  the  throne  of  Castile  as 
husband  of  Juana,  daughter  of  Isabella,  ordered  that  what  was 
due  to  Columbus  should  be  paid  to  his  successor.  This  order 
reached  Espanola  in  June,  1506,  but  was  not  obeyed  promptly ; 
and  when  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  returned  from  Italy  in  August, 
1507,  and  succeeded  to  the  Castilian  throne,  he  repeated  the 
order  on  August  24. 

It  would  seem  that  in  due    time    Diego  was   in  receipt  of 
450,000  ounces  of  gold  annually  from  the  four  foun-  Diego's  in- 
dries  in  Espanola.    This,  with  whatever  else  there  may   come' 
have  been,  was  by  no  means  satisfactory  to  the  young  aspirant, 
and  he  began  to  press  Ferdinand  for  a  restitution  of 
his   inherited  honors  and  powers  with  all   the   perti-  prases  for  a 
iiacity  which  had  characterized  his  father's  urgency,   ofcoium- 
Upon  the   return  of  Ferdinand  from  Naples,  Diego 
determined  to  push  the  matter  to  an  issue,  but  Ferdinand  still 


514  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

evaded  it.  Diego  now  asked,  according  to  Las  Casas  and 
Hen-era,  to  be  allowed  to  bring  a  suit  against  the  Crown  before 
the  Council  of  the  Indies,  and  the  King  yielded  to  the  request, 
confident,  very  likely,  in  his  ability  to  control  the  verdict  in  the 
public  interests.  The  suit  at  once  began  (1508),  and 

1508.     Suit       r         .  ,      .  -,  ,      „  n 

against  the     continued   for   several   years  before   all  was   accom 
plished,  and  in  December  of  that  same  year  (1508), 
we  find  Diego  empowering  an  attorney  of  the  Duke  of  Alva 
to  represent  his  case. 

The  defense  of  the  Crown  was  that  a  transmission  of  the 
viceroyalty  to  the  Admiral's  son  was  against  public  policy,  and 
at  variance  with  a  law  of  1480,  which  forbade  any  judicial  office 
under  the  Crown  being  held  in  perpetuity.  It  was  further  ar 
gued  in  the  Crown's  behalf  that  Columbus  had  not  been  the 
chief  instrument  of  the  first  discovery  and  had  not  discovered 
the  mainland,  but  that  other  voyagers  had  anticipated  him.  In 
response  to  all  allegations,  Diego  rested  his  case  on  the  con 
tracts  of  the  Crown  with  his  father,  which  assured  him  the 
powers  he  asked  for.  Further  than  this,  the  Crown  had  already 
recognized,  he  claimed,  a  part  of  the  contract  in  its  orders  of 
June  2,  1506,  and  August  24,  1507,  whereby  the  revenues  due 
under  the  contracts  had  been  restored  to  him.  It  was  also 
charged  by  the  defense  that  Columbus  had  been  relieved  of  his 
powers  because  he  had  abused  them,  and  the  answer  to  this  was 
that  the  sovereigns'  letter  of  1502  had  acknowledged  that 
Bobadilla  acted  without  authority.  A  number  of  navigators  in 
the  western  seas  were  put  on  the  stand  to  rebut  the  allegation 
of  existing  knowledge  of  the  coast  before  the  voyages  of  Co 
lumbus,  particularly  in  substantiating  the  priority  of  the  voyage 
of  Columbus  to  the  coast  of  Paria,  and  the  evidence  was  suf 
ficient  to  show  that  all  the  alleged  claims  were  simply  per 
verted  notions  of  the  really  later  voyage  of  Ojeda  in  1499.  It 
is  from  the  testimony  at  this  time,  as  given  in  Navarrete,  that 
the  biographers  of  Columbus  derive  considerable  information, 
not  otherwise  attainable,  respecting  the  voyages  of  Colum 
bus, —  testimony,  however,  which  the  historian  is  obliged  to 
weigh  with  caution  in  many  respects. 

The  case  was  promptly  disposed  of  in  Diego's  favor,  but  not 
without  suspicions  of  the  Crown's  influence  to  that 
end.  The  suit  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  puzzles  in  the 


THE  DESCENT   OF  COLUMBUS'S  HONORS.          515 

history  of  Columbus  and  his  fame.  If  it  was  a  suit  to  secure 
a  verdict  against  the  Crown  in  order  to  protect  the  Crown's 
rights  under  the  bull  of  demarcation,  we  can  understand  why 
much  that  would  have  helped  the  position  of  the  fiscal  was  not 
brought  forward.  If  it  was  what  it  purported  to  be,  an  effort 
to  relieve  the  Crown  of  obligations  fastened  upon  it  under  mis 
conceptions  or  deceits,  we  may  well  marvel  at  such  omission  of 
evidence. 

It  was  left  for  the  King  to  act  on  the  decision  for  restitution. 
This  might  have  been  by  his  studied  procrastination  indefinitely 
delayed  but  for  a  shrewd  movement  on  the  part  of  Diego,  who 
opportunely  aspired  to  the  hand  of  Dona  Maria  de  Toledo,  the 
daughter  of  Fernando  de  Toledo.  This  nobleman  was  brother 
of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  one  of  the  proudest  grandees  of  Spain, 
and  he  was  also  cousin  of  Ferdinand,  the  King.  The 

IT  f»p  i       i  i  i  •  Diego  mar- 

alliance,  soon    effected,   brought   the  young   suitor   a  nes  Maria 
powerful  friend  in  his  uncle,  and  the  bride's  family 
were  not  averse  to  a  connection  with  the  heir  to  the  viceroyalty 
of  the  Indies,  now  that  it  was  confirmed  by  the  Council  of  the 
Indies.     Harrisse  cannot   find  that    the  promised  dower  ever 
came  with  the  wife ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  Diego  seems  to  have 
become  the  financial  agent  of  his  wife's  family.     A  demand  for 
the  royal  acquiescence  in  the  orders  of  the  Council  could  now 
be  more  easily  made,  and  Ferdinand  readily  conceded  Diego  waives 
all  but  the  title  of  Viceroy.     Diego  waived  that  for  l^'tiSeof 
the  time,  and  he  was  accordingly  accredited  as  gov-  Vlcer°y- 
ernor  of  Espanola,  in  the  place  of  Ovando. 

Isabella  had  indeed,  while  on  her  death-bed,  importuned  the 
King  to  recall  Ovando,  because  of  the  appalling  stories  of  his 
cruelty  to  the  Indians.  Ferdinand  had  found  that  the  gov 
ernor's  vigilance  conduced  to  heavy  remittances  of  gold,  and 
had  shown  no  eagerness  to  carry  out  the  Queen's  wishes.  He 
had  even  ordered  Ovando  to  begin  that  transference  of  the 
poor  Lucayan  Indians  from  their  own  islands  to  work  in  the 
Espanola  mines  which  soon  resulted  in  the  depopulation  of  the 
Bahamas.  Now  that  he  was  forced  to  withdraw  Ovando 
Ovando  he  made  it  as  agreeable  for  him  as  possible,  recalled- 
and  in  the  end  there  was  no  lack  of  commendation  of  his  ad 
ministration.  Indeed,  as  Spaniards  went  in  those  days,  Ovando 
was  good  enough  to  gain  the  love  of  Las  Casas,  "  except  for 
some  errors  of  moral  blindness." 


516  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

It  was  on  May  3,  1509,  that  Ferdinand  gave  Diego  his  in- 
1509.  June    structions  ;   and    on  June  9,  the   new  governor  with 


n*s  n°ble  wife  sailed  from  San  Lucar.  There  went 
wifa  Diego,  beside  a  large  number  of  noble  Span 
iards  who  introduced,  as  Oviedo  says,  an  infusion  of  the  best 
Spanish  blood  into  the  colony,  his  brother  Ferdinand,  who 
was  specially  charged,  as  Oviedo  further  tells  us,  to  found 
monasteries  and  churches.  His  two  uncles  also  accompanied 
him.  Bartholomew  had  gone  to  Rome  after  Columbus's  death, 
with  the  intention  of  inducing  Pope  Julius  II.  to  urge  upon  the 
King  a  new  voyage  of  discovery  ;  and  Harrisse  thinks  that  this 
is  proved  by  some  memoranda  attached  to  an  account  of  the 
coasts  of  Veragua,  which  it  is  supposed  that  Bartholomew  gave 
at  this  time  to  a  canon  of  the  Lateraii,  which  is  now  preserved 
in  the  Megliavecchian  library,  and  has  been  printed  by  Har 
risse  in  his  Biblioiheca  Americana  Vetustissima.  It  was  per 
haps  on  this  visit  that  the  Adelantado  took  to  Rome  that  map 
of  Columbus's  voyage  to  those  coasts  which  it  is  usually  said 
was  carried  there  in  1505,  when  he  may  possibly  have  borne 
thither  the  letter  of  Columbus  to  the  Pope. 

The  position  which  Bartholomew  now  went  with  Diego  to  as 
sume,  that  of  the  Chief  Alguazil  of  Santo  Domingo,  caused 
much  complaint  from  Diego  Mendez,  who  claimed  the  credit  of 
Barthoio-  bringing  about  the  restitution  of  Diego's  power,  and 
blTsTandDT-'  wno  na<^5  as  ne  SIIVS9  been  promised  both  by  Columbus 
ego  Mendez.  an(j  ^y  fljg  gon  ^ig  office  as  recompense  for  his  many 

services. 

The  fleet  arrived  at  its  destination  July  10,  1509.  The  wife 
1509.  July  °f  tne  governor  had  taken  a  retinue,  which  for  splen- 
JeaciXu  dor  had  never  before  been  equaled  in  the  New  World, 
government.  an(j  -^  enakie(i  her  to  maintain  a  kind  of  viceregal 
state  in  the  little  capital.  It  all  helped  Diego  to  begin  his  rule 
with  no  inconsiderable  consequence.  There  was  needed  some 
thing  of  such  attraction  to  beguile  the  spirits  of  the  settlers,  for, 
as  Benzoni  learned  years  afterwards,  when  he  visited  the  region, 
the  coming  of  the  son  of  Columbus  had  not  failed  to  engender 
jealousies,  which  attached  to  the  imposition  of  another  for 
eigner  upon  the  colony. 

The  King  was  determined  that  Diego's  rule  should  be  con 
fined  to  Espanoia,  and,  much  to  the  governor's  annoyance,  he 


THE  DESCENT   OF  COLUMBUS' S  HONORS. 


517 


parceled  out  the  coasts  which  Columbus  had  tracked  near  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  into  two  governments,  and  installed  Ojeda 
in  command  of  the  eastern  one,  which  was  called  New  Ojeda  and 
Andalusia,  while  the  one  beyond  the  Gulf  of  Uraba,  Nicuessa- 
which  included  Veragua,  he  gave  to  Diego  de  Nicuessa,   and 
called  it  Castilla  del  Oro. 


II   g/LlW JI    jPA.E\     SWONENSIS 


POPE  JULIUS   II. 


This  action  of  the  King,  as  well  as  his  effort  to  put  Porto 
Rico  under  an  independent  governor,  incited  new  ex 
postulations  from  Diego,  and  served  to  make  his  rule 


518  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

in  the  island  quite  as  uncomfortable  as  its  management  had 
been  to  his  father.  There  also  grew  up  the  same  discourage- 
Faction  of  nient  f rom  faction.  The  King's  treasurer,  Miguel  Pas- 
passamonte.  samonte,  became  the  head  of  the  rebellious  party,  not 
without  suspicion  that  he  was  prompted  to  much  denunciations 
in  his  confidential  communications  with  the  King.  Reports  of 
Diego's  misdeeds  and  ambitions,  threatening  the  royal  power 
even,  were  assiduously  conveyed  to  the  King.  The  sovereign 
devised  a  sort  of  corrective,  as  he  thought,  of  this,  by  institut- 
1511  octo-  *n£  ^a*er>  October  5,  1511,  a  court  of  appeals,  or  Audi- 
bers.  AU-  enGia^  to  which  the  aggrieved  colonists  could  go  in 

diencia.  •'•»'"•  . 

their  defense  against  oppression  or  extortion.  Its 
natural  effect  was  to  undermine  the  governor's  authority  and  to 
weaken  his  influence.  He  found  himself  thwarted  in  all  efforts  to 
relieve  the  Indians  of  their  burdens,  as  nothing  of  that  sort  could 
be  done  without  disturbing  the  revenues  of  leading  colonists. 
There  was  no  great  inducement  to  undo  measures  by  which  no 
one  profited  in  receipts  more  than  himself,  and  the  cruel  devas 
tation  of  the  native  population  ran  on  as  it  had  done.  He  cer 
tainly  did  not  show  himself  averse  to  continuing  the  system  of 
repartimientos  for  the  benefit  of  himself  and  his  friends. 

Diego,  who  had  been  for  a  while  in  Spain,  returned  in  1512 
to  Espafiola,  and  later  new  orders  were  sent  out  by  the  King, 
and  these  included  commands  to  reduce  the  labor  of  the  Indians 
one  third,  to  import  negro  slaves  from  Guinea  as  a  measure  of 
further  relief  to  the  natives,  and  to  brand  Carib  slaves,  so  as  to 
protect  other  Indians  from  harsh  treatment  intended  for  the 
Caribs  alone. 

Diego  was  again  in  Spain  in  1513,  and  the  attempts  of  Ojeda 
and  Nicuessa  having  failed,  later  orders  in  1514  so  far  rein 
stated  Diego  in  his  viceregal  power  as  to  permit  him  to  send  his 

uncle  Bartholomew  to  take  possession  of  the  Veragua 
mew  coium-  coast.  But  the  life  of  the  Adelantado  was  drawing;  to 

bus  died.  «••»'•  -,  • 

a  close,  and  his  death  soon  occurring  nothing  was  done. 

Affairs  had  come  to  such  a  pass  that  Diego  again  felt  it 
necessary  to  repair  to  Court  to  counteract  his  enemies'  intrigues, 
and  once  more  getting  permission  from  the  King,  he  sailed  for 
isis.  Diego  Spain,  April  9,  1515,  leaving  the  Vice-Queen  with  a 
in  Spain.  COUncil  in  authority. 

Diego  found  the  King  open  and  kindly,  and  not  averse  to  ac- 


THE  DESCENT   OF  COLUM BUS'S  HONORS. 


519 


knowledging  the  merits  of  his  government.  He  again  pressed 
his  bonded  rights  with  the  old  fervency.  "  I  would  bestow  them 
willingly  on  you,"  said  the  King  ;  "  but  I  cannot  do  so  without 

l&err  iCaroloeriCb2tn:cnlicbTReTrervno*iR5mg/  £mbemog$u£>ftaTcicbJ 

«^Bju»uraMBV/Wart«bOW3utf«S,.t^eb^^ 


CHARLES  THE   FIFTH. 


intrusting  them  also  to  your  son  and  to  his  successors."  "  Is  it 
just,"  said  Diego,  "  that  I  should  suffer  for  a  son  which  I  may 
never  have  ?  "  Las  Casas  tells  us  that  Diego  repeated  this  col 
loquy  to  him. 


520  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  King  found  it  reasonable  to  question  if  Columbus  had 
really  sailed   along;   all   the   coasts   in   which   Diego 

1516.    Janu-       ,.,  ,  -,  .. 

ary23.  Fer-  claimed  a  share,  and  ordered  an  examination  of  the 

dinand  died.  . 

matter  to  be  made.     While  these  claims  were  in  abey 
ance,  the  King  died,  January  23,  1516. 

This  event  much  retarded  the  settlement  of  the  difficulties. 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  who  held  power  for  a  while,  was  not  willing 
to  act,  and  nothing  was  done  for  four  years,  during  part  of 
Diego  again  which  period  Diego  was  certainly  in  Espanola.  We 
inEspanoia.  ]^now  ^Q  ^hat  he  was  present  at  the  convocation 
of  Barcelona,  presided  over  by  the  Emperor,  when  Las  Casas 
made  his  urgent  appeals  for  the  Indians  and  pictured  their 
hardships.  Finally,  in  1520,  when  Charles  V.  was  about  to  em- 
1520.  Diego  bark  for  Flanders,  Diego  was  in  a  position  to  advance 
in  spam.  j.Q  fae  Emperor  so  large  a  sum  as  ten  thousand  ducats, 
which  was,  as  it  appears,  about  a  fifth  of  his  annual  income 
from  Espanola  at  this  time.  This  financial  succor 
tiaify  reki-  seemed  to  open  the  way  for  the  Emperor  to  dismiss 
all  charges  against  Diego,  and  to  reinstate  him  in 
qualified  authority  as  Viceroy  over  the  Indies. 

This  seeming  restitution  was  not  without  a  disagreeable  ac 
companiment  in  the  appointment  of  a  supervisor  to  reside  at 
his  viceregal  court  and  report  on  the  Viceroy's  doings.  In  Sep- 
1520.  sep-  tember,  1520,  Diego  sailed  once  more  for  his  govern- 
ego  returns1'  ment,  and  on  November  14  we  find  him  in  Santo 
Espanola.  DomjngOi  an(j  shortly  afterwards  engaged  in  the  con 
struction  of  a  lordly  palace,  which  he  was  to  occupy,  and  which 
is  seen  there  to-day.  The  substantialness  of  its  structure  gave 
rise  to  rumors  that  he  was  preparing  a  fortress  for  ulterior 
aims. 

Diego  soon  found  that  various  administrative  measures  had 
not  gone  well  in  his  absence.  Commanders  of  some  of  the  prov 
inces  had  exceeded  their  powers,  and  it  became  necessary  to  su 
persede  them.  This  made  them  enemies  as  a  matter  of  course. 
The  raising  of  sugar-cane  had  rapidly  developed  under  the  im 
ported  African  labor,  and  the  revenues  now  came  for  the  most 
Ne  part  from  the  plantations  rather  than  from  the  mines. 

slaves  in-       The  negroes  so  increased  that  it  was  not  long  before 
some  of  them   dared  to   rise  in  revolt,   but  the  mis 
chief  was  stopped  by  a  rapid  swoop  of  armed  horsemen.    The 


522  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

jealousies  and  revengeful  accusations  of  Diego's  enemies  were 
not  so  easily  quelled,  and  before  long  he  was  summoned  to  Spain 
to  render  an  account  of  his  doings,  for  Lucas  Vasquez  de  Ayllon 
had  presented  charges  against  him.  On  September  16,  1523, 
Diego  embarked,  and  landed  at  St.  Lucar  November  5.  He 
presented  himself  before  the  Emperor  at  Vittoria  in  January, 
1524,  and  reviewed  his  conduct.  This  he  succeeded  in  doing  in  a 
manner  to  disarm  his  foes ;  and  this  success  encouraged  him  to 
press  anew  for  his  inherited  rights.  The  demand  ended  in  the 
1523.  Diego  questions  in  dispute  being  referred  to  a  board ;  and 
in  Spain.  Diego  f or  two  years  followed  the  Court  in  its  migrations, 
to  be  in  attendance  on  the  sessions  of  this  commission.  His 
1526  Febru-  health  gave  wav  under  the  strain,  so  that,  with  every- 
Sf3'  Dieg°  tuin£  st*H  unsettled,  he  died  at  Montalvan,  February 
23,  1526,  having  survived  his  father  for  twenty  troub 
lous  years.  His  remains  were  laid  in  the  monastery  of  Las 
Cuevas  by  the  side  of  Columbus.  Being  later  conveyed  to  the 
cathedral  at  Santo  Domingo,  they  were,  if  one  may  credit  the 
quite  unproved  statements  of  the  priests  of  the  cathedral,  mis 
taken  for  those  of  his  father,  and  taken  to  Havana  in  1795. 

The  Vice-Queen  and  her  family  were  still  in  Santo  Domingo, 
and  her  children  were  seven  in  number,  four  daugh 
ters  and  three  sons.     The  descent  of  the  honors  came 
eventually  to  the  descendants  of  one  of  these  daughters,  Isabel, 
who  married  George  of  Portugal,  Count  of   Gelves.     Of   the 
Luis  colon     three  sons,  Luis  succeeded  his  father,  and  was  in  turn 
eds*       succeeded  by  Diego,  a  son  of  Luis's  brother  Cristoval. 

The  Vice-Queen,  after  making  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  colo 
nize  Veragua,  in  which  she  was  thwarted  by  the  royal  Audi- 
encia  at  Espanola,  returned  to  Spain  in  1529.  Her  son  Luis, 
the  heir,  was  still  a  child,  having  been  born  in  1521  or  1522. 
For  fourteen  years  his  mother  pressed  his  claims  upon  the  Em 
peror,  Charles  V.,  and  she  was  during  a  part  of  the  time  in 
such  distress  that  she  borrowed  money  of  Ferdinand  Columbus 
and  pledged  her  jewels.  She  lived  till  1549,  and  died  at  Santo 
Domingo. 

Early  in  1536  the  Cardinal  Garcia  de  Loyasa,  in  behalf  of 
1536.  The     the  Council  of  the  Indies,  rendered  a  decision  in  which 
ne  an(l  Ferdinand  Columbus  had  acted   as  arbiters, 
whicn  was  confirmed  by  the  Emperor  in  September  of 


THE  DESCENT   OF  COLUMBUS' 'S  HONORS.          523 

the  same  year.     This  was  that,  upon  the  abandonment  by  Luis 
of  all  claims  upon  the  revenues  of  the  Indies,  of  the  title  of  Vice 
roy,  and  of  the  right  to  appoint  the  officers  of  the  New  World, 
he   should   be  given  the  island  of  Jamaica  in  fief,  a  perpetual 
annuity  of  ten  thousand  ducats,  and  the  title  of  Duke  Duke  of 
of  Veragua,  with  an  estate  twenty-five  leagues  square  Vera#ua- 
in  that  province,  to  support  the  title  and  functions  of  Admiral 
of  the  Indies.     In  1540  Luis  returned  to  Espanola  1540>   Luis 
with  the  title  of  Captain-General,  and  in  1542  mar-  in  EsPaa°la- 
ried  at  Santo  Domingo,  much  against  his  mother's  wish,  Maria 
de   Orozco,  who  later  lived  in  Honduras    and  married  another. 
While  she  was  still  living,  Luis  again  espoused  at  Santo  Do 
mingo  Maria  de  Mosquera.     In  1551  he  returned  to  Spain. 

Whatever  remained  of  the  rights  which  Columbus  had  sought 
to  transmit  to  his  heirs  had  already  been  modified  to  coimnbus's 
their  detriment  by  Charles,  under  decrees  in  1540,   JSdSSTy 
1541,  and  1542  ;  and  when  Charles  was  succeeded  by  abridge(L 
Philip  II.,  early  in  1556,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  latter  was 
to  force  Luis  to  abandon  his  fief  of  Veragua  and  to  throw  up 
his  power  as  Admiral.     The  Council  of  the  Indies  took  cogni 
zance  of  the  case  in  July,  1556,  and  on  September  28  following, 
Philip  II.,  at  Ghent,  recompensed  the  grandson  of  Columbus, 
for  his  submission  to  the  inevitable,  by  decreeing  to^  Luis  the 
honorary  title  of  Admiral  of  the  Indies  and  Duke  of  Veragua, 
with  an  income  of  seven  thousand  ducats.     So  in  fifty 

1556      All 

years  the  dreams  of  Columbus  for  territorial  magnifi-  Coiumbus's 
cence  came  to  naught,  and  the  confident  injunctions  rights  aban- 
of  his  will  were  dissipated  in  the  air. 

Immediately  after   this,    Luis    furtively  married,  while    his 
other  wives  were  still  living,  Ana  de  Castro  Ossorio.   Luis  a  ^ 
The  authorities  found  in  these  polygamous  acts  a  con-  1y&amist- 
venient  opportunity  to   get  another  troublesome  Colon  out  of 
the  way,  and  arrested  Luis  in  1559.     He  was  held  in  prison  for 
nearly  five  years,  and  when  in  1563  judgment  was  got  against 
him,  he  was  sentenced  to  ten  years  of  exile,  half  of  which  was 
to  be  passed  in  Oran,  in  Africa.     While  his  appeal  was  pend 
ing,  his  scandalous  life  added  crime  to  crime,  and  finally,  in 
November,  1565,  his    sentence    being   confirmed,   he   1572    Luis 
was  conducted  to  Oran,  and  there  he  died  February  dies> 
3,  1572. 


THE   COLUMBUS   PEDIGREE. 


NOTE.  Dotted  lines  mark  illegitimate  descents ;  the  dash-and-dot  lines  mark  pretended  de 
scents.  The  heavy  face  numerals  show  the  successful  holders  of  the  honors  of  Columbus.  The 
lines  a  a,  b  6,  and  c  c  join  respectively. 


Fadrique  Enriquez, 
Adm.  of  Castile. 


Alvarez  =  Maria. 


Toledo 


Duke  of 
Alba. 


Fernando. 


Juaua  —  Juan  II. 
I  of  Aragon. 


Ferdinand 
)f  Aragon 


=  Isabella  of     Filipe  =  CRISTOFORO  =  Beatrix 


Maria  de  =  DIEGO, 
Toledo     I  2    d.1526. 


Castile.       Moniz 


•   Henriquez, 
':  living  in  1513. 
Fernando, 

b.  1488, 

d.  1539. 


Felipa,        Maria  Juana 

nun.  r=  Sancho  =  Luis  de 

de  Cardona,     I  la  Cueva. 
Adm.  of 
Aragon. 


Isabel  Luiea  de  =  LUIS  : 

=  Jorge  de     Oarvajal   •       3 
Portogallo. 


:  Maria  de 
Mosquira. 


1  )    Maria, 

Cristoval,    Luis,     Maria  =  Carlos  de 
d.  s.  p.      d.  s.  p.     =  Fr.       Arellano, 
1583.  de  Men-     d.  bef .  1600.  f 

doza, 
d.  1605. 


Alvaro. 


Cris-  Maria, 

toval.   of  the 

Convent 


Filipa,c 
d.  1577. 


Jorge 
Alberti, 
d.  1581. 


Maria    Juana 
d.  s.  p.    —  Fr.  Pacheco, 
I  d.  1605. 


I  James  II.  I  =  Arabella 
[England.  |  |  Churchill. 

Duke  of 
Berwick. 


Carlos. 


lines. 


James  STUART,  =  Catarina 

DukeofLiria,    I   Ventura, 

d.  1738.  d.  1740. 

JACOBO  EDUABDO. 

I  10 

CARLOS  FERNANDO. 

I  " 

JACOBO  FILIPK,  l! 


in  1790; 
the  decree  of 
1664  reversed. 


NUNO  DE   5 
PORTOGALLO, 
established  in 
1608. 


ALVARO  6 
JACINTO. 


PEDRO  NUNO.   7 


PEDRO  MANUEL.  8 

I 


Quirce. 


PEDRO  NUNO,  9 

d.  1733, 

without  legitimate 
issue. 


Continued  to 
our  day. 


Susanna 
DOMENICO  =  Fontanarosa. 


Doniiuico 

Colombo,  of 

CuGca.ro. 


Bartolomeo. 


Giovanni         Giacomo      Blanchinetta 
Pelegrino,      or  Diego,    =  Giacomo 
d.  s.  p.  priest.  Paravello. 


Maria, 
nun, 
b.  1508. 



ardo              Balth 
ombo,               Colo 
ogoleto.         of  Cu 

azar 
mbo, 
ccaro. 

Ana  =  Crist 
de 
Pravia 

1 
oval  =  Magdalena              Diego 
de                      =  Isabel 
Guzman.                 Justenian. 

(                               1                    ! 

c=  DIEGO,                     Francesca               Maria 
4  d.  s.  p.                       =  Diego                =  Luis  de 
1578.                          1   Ortegon.                Avila. 

Josefa                                                                 Bert 
=  De  Paz  de  la                £«&  de                         Col 
Serra.                      AVILA,                          of  C 
1                                         d.  1633. 
Josefa  —  Martin  de 
LARREATEGUI. 

Diego. 


Francisco. 


MANIANO  (1790).   13 

PEDRO.   14 
CRISTOVAL.    15 


Sonb. 
1878. 


526  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Luis  left  two  illegitimate  children,  one  a  son ;  but  his  lawful 
heirs  were  adjudged  to  be  the  children  of  Maria  de 
Mosquera,  two  daughters,  one  a  nun  and  the  other 
Filipa.     This  last  presented  a  claim  for  the  titles  in  opposition 
to  the  demands  of  Diego,  the  nephew  of  her  father.     She  de 
clared  this  cousin  to  be  the  natural,  and  not  the  lawful, 

Hisdaugh-  c    T      •    ?      i          i  T 

ter  marries     son  ot  Luis  s  brother.     It  was  easy  enough  to  torsret 

her  cousin  . 

Diego,  the  such  imputations  in  coming  to  the  final  conclusion, 
when  Filipa  and  Diego  took  each  other  in  marriage 
(May  15,  1573)  to  compose  their  differences,  the  husband  be 
coming  Duke  of  Veragua.  Filipa  died  in  November, 
male  line  1577,  and  her  husband  January  27,  1578.  As  they 
had  no  children,  the  male  line  of  Columbus  became 
extinct  seventy  years  after  his  death. 

The  lawsuit  which  followed  for  the  settlement  of  the  suc- 
The  long  cession  was  a  famous  one.  It  lasted  thirty  years.  The 
itrmanynd  claimants  were  at  first  eight  in  number,  but  they  were 
contestants.  re^uce(j  to  five  by  deaths  during  the  progress  of  the 
trials. 

The  first  was  Francesca,  own  sister  of  Diego,  the  late  Duke. 
Her  claim  was  rejected ;  but  five  generations  later  the  digni 
ties  returned  to  her  descendants. 

The  second  was  the  representative  of  Maria,  the  daughter  of 
Luis,  and  sister-in-law  of  Diego.  The  claim  made  by  her  heir, 
the  convent  of  San  Quirce,  was  discarded. 

The  third  was  Cristoval,  the  bastard  son  of  Luis,  who 
claimed  to  be  the  fruit  of  a  marriage  of  Luis,  concluded  while 
he  was  in  prison  accused  of  polygamy.  Cristoval  died  in  1601, 
before  the  cause  was  decided. 

The  fourth  was  Alvaro  de  Portogallo,  Count  of  Gelves,  a  son 
of  Isabel,  the  sister  of  Luis.  He  had  unsuccessfully  claimed 
the  titles  when  Luis  died,  in  1572,  and  again  put  forth  his 
claims  in  1578,  when  Diego  died,  but  he  himself  died,  pending 
a  decision,  in  1581.  His  son,  Jorge  Alberto,  inherited  his 
rights,  but  died  in  1589,  before  a  decision  was  reached,  when 
his  younger  brother,  Nuno  de  Portogallo,  became  the  claimant, 
and  his  rights  were  established  by  the  tribunal  in  1608,  when 
he  became  Duke  of  Veragua.  His  enjoyment  of  the  title  was 
not  without  unrest,  but  the  attempts  to  dispossess  him  failed. 

The  fifth  was  Cristoval  de  Cardoiia,  Admiral  of  Aragon,  son 


THE  DESCENT   OF  COLUMBUS'S  HONORS.          527 

of  Maria,  elder  sister  of  Luis.  This  claimant  died  in  1583, 
while  his  claim,  having  once  been  allowed,  was  held  in  abey 
ance  by  an  appeal  of  his  rivals.  His  sister,  Maria,  was  then 
adjudged  inheritor  of  the  honors,  but  she  died  in  1605,  before 
the  final  decree. 

The  sixth  was  Maria  de  la  Cueva,  daughter  of  Juana,  sister 
of  Luis,  who  died  before  December,  1600,  while  her  daughter 
died  in  1605,  leaving  Carlos  Pacheco  a  claimant,  whose  rights 
were  disallowed. 

The  seventh  was  Balthazar  Colombo,  a  descendant  of  a  Do- 
menico  Colombo,  who  was,  according  to  the  claim,  the  same 
Domenico  who  was  the  father  of  Columbus.  His  genealogical 
record  was  not  accepted. 

The  eighth  was  Bernardo  Colombo,  who  claimed  to  be  a  de 
scendant  of  Bartholomew  Columbus,  the  Adelantado,  a  claim 
not  made  good. 

These  last  two  contestants  rested  their  title  in  part  on  the 
fact  that  their  ancestors  had  always  borne  the  name  of  Co 
lombo,  and  this  was  required  by  Columbus  to  belong  to  the 
inheritors  of  his  honors.  The  lineal  ancestors  of  the  other  claim 
ants  had  borne  the  names  of  Cardona,  Portogallo,  or  Avila. 

From  Nuno   de  Portogallo  the  titles  descended  to   his  son 
Alvaro  Jacinto,  and  then  to  the  latter's   son,  Pedro   Nusode 
Nuno.     His  rights  were  contested  by  Luis  de  Avila  f°cc£££!° 
(grandson  of  Cristoval,  brother  of  Luis  Colon),  who  Strtheline 
tried  in  1620  to  reverse  the  verdict  of  1608,  and    it  changes- 
was  not  till   1664  that  Pedro  Nuno  defeated  his  adversaries. 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Pedro  Manuel,  and  he  by  his  son, 
Pedro  Nuno,  who  died  in  1733,  when  this  male  line  became 
extinct. 

The  titles  were  now  illegally  assumed  by  Pedro  Nuiio's  sister, 
Catarina  Ventura,  who  by  marriage  gave  them  to  her  husband, 
James  Fitz-James  Stuart,  son  of  the  famous  Duke  of  Berwick, 
and  by  inheritance  in  his  own  right,  Duke  of  Liria.  When  he 
died,  in  1738,  the  titles  passed  to  his  son,  Jacobo  Eduardo ; 
thence  to  the  latter's  son,  Carlos  Fernando,  who  transmitted 
them  to  his  son,  Jacobo  Filipe.  This  last  was  obliged,  by  a 
verdict  in  1790,  which  reversed  the  decree  of  1664,  to  yield 
the  titles  to  the  line  of  Francesca,  sister  of  Diego,  the  fourth 


528  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

holder  of  them.  This  Francesca  married  Diego  Ortegon,  and 
their  grandchild,  Josefa,  married  Martin  Larreategui,  whose 
great-great-grandson,  Mariano  (by  decrees  1790—96),  became 
Duke  of  Veragua,  from  whom  the  title  descended  to  his  son, 
Pedro,  and  then  to  his  grandson,  Cristoval,  the  present  Duke, 
born  in  1837,  whose  heir,  the  next  Duke,  was  born  in  1878. 
The  value  of  the  titles  is  said  to-day  to  represent  about  eight  or 
ten  thousand  dollars,  and  this  income  is  chargeable  upon  the 
revenues  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico. 

In  concluding  this  rapid  sketch  of  the  descent  of  the  blood 
and  honors  of  Columbus,  two  striking  thoughts  are  presented. 
The  Larreateguis  are  a  Basque  family.  The  blood  of  Colum 
bus,  the  Genoese,  now  mingles  with  that  of  the  hardiest  race 
of  navigators  of  western  Europe,  and  of  whom  it  may  be  ex 
pected  that  if  ever  earlier  contact  of  Europe  with  the  New 
World  is  proved,  these  Basques  will  be  found  the  forerunners  of 
Columbus.  The  blood  of  the  supposed  discoverer  of  the  west 
ern  passage  to  Asia  flows  with  that  of  the  earliest  stock  which 
is  left  to  us  of  that  Oriental  wave  of  population  which  inun 
dated  Europe,  in  the  far-away  times  when  the  races  which  make 
our  modern  Christian  histories  were  being  disposed  in  valleys 
and  on  the  coasts  of  what  was  then  the  Western  World. 


APPENDIX 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 

THERE  was  a  struggling  effort  of  the  geographical  sense  of  the 
world  for  thirty  years  and  more  after  the  death  of  Columbus,  before 
the  fact  began  to  be  grasped  that  a  great  continent  was  in-  Progress  of 
terposed  as  a  substantial  and  independent  barrier  in  the  discovery. 
track  to  India.  It  took  nearly  a  half  century  more  before  men  gener 
ally  recognized  that  fact,  and  then  in  most  cases  it  was  accepted  with 
the  reservation  of  a  possible  Asiatic  connection  at  the  extreme  north. 
It  was  something  more  than  two  hundred  and  twenty  years  from  the 
death  of  Columbus  before  that  severance  at  the  north  was  incontestably 
established  by  the  voyage  of  Bering,  and  a  hundred  and  thirty  years 
longer  before  at  last  the  contour  of  the  northern  coast  of  the  con 
tinent  was  established  by  the  proof  of  the  long-sought  northwest  pas 
sage  in  1850.  We  must  now,  to  complete  the  story  of  the  influence 
of  Columbus,  rehearse  somewhat  concisely  the  narrative  of  this  pro 
gressive  outcome  of  that  wonderful  voyage  of  1492.  The  spirit  of 
western  discovery,  which  Columbus  imparted,  was  of  long  continu 
ance. 

"  If  we  wish  to  make  ourselves  thoroughly  acquainted,"  says  Dr. 
Kohl,  "  with  the  histoiy  of  discovery  in  the  New  World,  we  must  not 
only  follow  the  navigators  on  their  ships,  but  we  must  look  into  the 
cabinets  of  princes  and  into  the  counting-houses  of  merchants,  and 
likewise  watch  the  scholars  in  their  speculative  studies." 
There  was  no  rallying  point  for  the  scholar  of  cosmography  encVof  Ptoi- 


in  those  early  days  of  discovery  like  the  text  and  influence 
of  Ptolemy. 

We  know  little  of  this  ancient  geographer  beyond  the  fact  of  his 
living  in  the  early  portion  of  the  second  century,  and  mainly  at  Alex 
andria,  the  fittest  home  of  a  geographer  at  that  time,  since  this  Egyp 
tian  city  was  peerless  for  commerce  and  learning.  Here  he  could  do 
best  what  he  advises  all  geographers  to  do,  consult  the  journals  of 
travelers,  and  get  information  of  eclipses,  as  the  same  phenomena  were 


530 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


observed  at  different  places ;  such,  for  instance,  as  that  of  the  moon 
noted  at  Arbela  in  the  fifth,  and  seen  at  Carthage  in  the  second  hour. 
The  precision  of  Ptolemy  was  covered  out  of  sight  by  graphic 
fancies  among  the  cosmographers  of  succeeding  ages,  till  about  the  be 
ginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  Italy  and  the  western  Mediterra 
nean  islands  began  to  produce  those  atlases  of  sea-charts,  which  have 
come  down  to  us  under  the  name  of  "  portolanos  ;  "  and  still 
later  a  new  impetus  was  given  to  geographical  study  by  the 
manuscripts  of  Ptolemy,  with  his  maps,  which  began  to  be  common  in 


Portolanos. 


PTOLEMY. 
[From  Reusner's  Icones."] 


western  Europe  in  the  beginning  of   the  fifteenth  century,  largely 
through  the  influence  of  communications  with  the  Byzantine  peoples. 

The  portolanos,  however,  never  lost  their  importance.  Nordenskiold 
says  that,  from  the  great  number  of  them  still  extant  in  Italy,  we  may 
deduce  that  they  had  a  greater  circulation  during  the  sixteenth  cen- 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


531 


tury  than  printed  cartographical  works.  About  five  hundred  of  these 
sea-charts  are  known  in  Italian  libraries,  and  the  greater  proportion  of 
them  are  of  Italian  origin. 

It  is  a  composite  Latin  text,  brought  into  final  shape  by  Jacobus 
Angelus  not  far  from  1400-1410,  which  was  the  basis  of  the  early 
printed  editions  of  Ptolemy.  This  version  was  for  a  while  circulated  in 
manuscript,  sometimes  with  copies  of  the  maps  of  the  Old  World  hav 
ing  a  Latinized  nomenclature ;  and  the  public  libraries  of  Europe  con 
tain  here  and  there  specimens  of  these  early  copies,  one  of  which  it  is 
thought  was  known  to  Pierre  d'Ailly.  It  is  a  question  if  Angelus 
supplied  the  maps  which  accompanied  these  early  manuscripts,  and 
which  got  into  the  Bologna  edition  of  1462  (wrongly  dated  for  1472), 
and  into  the  metrical  version  of  Beiiingieri.  These  maps,  whether 
always  the  same  in  the  early  manuscripts  or  not,  were  later  superseded 
by  a  new  set  of  maps  made  by  a  German  cartographer,  Nicolaus  Donis, 
which  he  added  to  a  revision  of  Angelus's  Latin  text.  Latintextof 
These  later  maps  were  close  copies  of  the  original  Greek  Ptolemy. 


maps,  and  were  accompanied  by   others  of  a   similar  workmanship, 
which  represented  better  knowledge  than  the  Greeks  had.     In  1478 
these  Donis  maps  were  first  engraved  on  copper,  and  were   The  Donis 
used  in  the  later  editions  of  1490,  and  slightly  corrected   maP8- 
in  those  of  1507  and  1508.     The  engravers  were  Schweinheim  and 
Buckinck,  and  their   work,  following  copies   of  it  in  the   edition  of 
1490,   has  been  admirably  reproduced  in   The   Facsimile  Atlas  of 
Nordenskiold  (Stockholm,  1889). 

Meanwhile,  editions   of    the  text  of   Angelus  had  been  issued   at 


532 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Ulm  in  1482,  and  giving  additions  in  1486,  with  woodcut  maps,  the 
same  in  both  issues  on  a  different  projection,  assigned  to  Dominus 
Nicolaus  Germanus,  who  had,  according  to  Nordenskield,  completed 
the  manuscript  fifteen  years  earlier.  It  is  significant,  perhaps,  of  the 
slowness  with  which  the  bruit  of  Portuguese  discoveries  to  the  south 
had  traveled  that  there  is  in  the  maps  of  Africa  no  extension  of 
Ptolemy's  knowledge.  But  if  they  are  deficient  in  the  south,  they  are 
Greenland  remarkable  in  the  north  for  showing  the  coming  America 
in  maps.  m  a  delineation  of  Greenland,  which,  as  we  have  already 
pointed  out,  was  no  new  object  in  the  manuscript  portolanos,  even  as 
far  back  as  the  early  part  of  the  same  century. 


5ANCTE  GWJCIS 
SIVE 

NOV/US 

RUYSCH,  1508. 

Two  years  after  the  death  of  Columbus,  we  find  in  the  edition  of 
1508,  and  sometimes  in  the  edition  of  1507,  —  there  is  no  difference 
between  the  two  issues  except  in  the  title-page,  —  the  first  engraved 
map  which  has  particular  reference  to  the  new  geographical  develop 
ments  of  the  age. 

This  Ruysch  map  shows  the  African  coast  discoveries  of  the  Portu- 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  533 

guese,  with  the  discoveries  of  Marco  Polo  towards  the  east.     In  con 
nection  with   the  latter,   the  same  material  which  Behaim 
had  used  in  his  globe  seems  to  have  been  equally  accessible   Ruysch 
to  Ruysch.     The  latter's  map  has  a  legend  on  the  sea  be 
tween  Iceland  and  Greenland,  saying  that  an  island  situated  there 
was  burnt  up  in  1456.     This  statement  has  been  connected  by  some 
with  another  contained  in  the  Sagas,  that  from  an  island  in  this  chan 
nel  both  Greenland  and  Iceland  could  be  seen. 

We  also  learn  from  another  legend  that  Portuguese  vessels  had 
pushed  down  the  South  American  coast  to  50°  south  latitude,  and  the 
historians  of  these  early  voyages  have  been  unable  to  say  who  the 
pioneers  were  who  have  left  us  so  early  a  description  of  Brazil. 

It  is  inferred  from  a  reference  of  Beneventanus,  in  his  Ptolemy, 
respecting  this  map,  that  some  aid  had  been  derived  from  a  map  made 
by  one  of  the  Columbuses,  and  a  statement  that  Bartholomew  Colum 
bus,  in  Rome  in  1505,  gave  a  map  of  the  new  discoveries  to  a  canon  of 
San  Giovanni  di  Laterano  has  been  thought  to  refer  to  such  a  map, 
which  would,  if  it  could  be  established,  closely  connect  the  Columbus 
Ruysch  map  with  Columbus.  It  is  also  supposed  to  have  SiyS 
some  relation  to  Cabot,  since  a  voyage  which  Ruysch  made  "^P- 
to  the  new  regions  westward  from  England  may  have  been,  and  prob 
ably  was,  with  that  navigator.  In  this  case,  the  reference  to  that  part 
of  the  coast  of  Asia  which  the  English  discovered  may  record  Ruysch's 
personal  experiences.  If  these  things  can  be  considered  as  reasonably 
established,  it  gives  great  interest  to  this  map  of  Ruysch,  and  connects 
Columbus  not  only  with  the  earliest  manuscript  map,  La  Cosa  of  1500, 
but  also  with  the  earliest  engraved  map  of  the  New  World,  as  Ruysch's 
map  was. 

In  speaking  of  the  Ruysch  map,  Henry  Stevens  thinks  that  the 
cartographer  laid  down  the  central  archipelago  of  America  from  the 
printed  letter  of  Columbus,  because  it  was  the  only  account  in  print 
in  1507  ;  but  why  restrict  the  sources  of  information  to 

i         T       xt        *  «ii  •     i      Sources  of 

those  in  print,  when  .La  Cosa  s  map  might  have  been  copied,    the  Ruysch 
or  the  material  which  La  Cosa  employed  might  have  been 
used  by  others,  and  when  the  Cantino  map  is  a  familiar  copy  of  Portu 
guese   originals,   all  of  which  might  well  have  been    known  in  the 
varied  circles  with  which  Ruysch  is  seen  by  his  map  to  have  been 
familiar  ? 

While  it  is  a  fact  that  central  and  northern  Europe  got  its  carto 
graphical  knowledge  of  the  New  World  almost  wholly  from  Portugal, 
owing,  perhaps,  to  the  exertions  of  Spain  to  preserve  their 
explorers'  secrets,  we  do  not,  at  the  same  time,  find  a  single   geography 
engraved  Portuguese  map  of  the  early  years  of  this  period 
of  discovery. 


534 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


A  large  map,  to  show  the  Portuguese  discoveries  during  years  then 
Portu  uese  recent>  was  probably  made  for  King  Emanuel,  and  it  has 
portoiano.  come  down  to  us,  being  preserved  now  at  Munich.  This 
chart  wholly  omits  the  Spanish  work  of  exploration,  and  records  only 
the  coasts  coursed  by  Cabral  in  the  south,  and  by  the  Cortereals  in  the 
north.  We  have  a  further  and  similar  record  in  the  chart  of  Pedro 
Pedro  Kernel,  which  could  not  have  been  made  far  from  the  same 

Reinei.          time,  and  which  introduces  to  us  the  same  prominent  cape 
which  in  La  Cosa's  map  had  been  called  the  English  cape  as  "  Cavo 


THE  SO-CALLED  ADMIRAL'S  MAP. 

Razo,"  a  name  preserved  to  us  to-day  in  the  Cape  Race  of  Newfound 
land. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  of  the  non-communicative  policy  of 
Spain.  This  secretiveness  was  understood  at  the  time  Robert  Thorne, 
in  1527,  complained,  as  well  as  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  in  his 
Discoverie,  that  a  similar  injunction  was  later  laid  by  Por 
tugal.  In  Veitia  Linage's  Norte  we  read  of  the  cabinets 
in  which  these  maps  were  preserved,  and  how  the  Spanish 


Spain  and 
Portugal 
conceal 
their 


secrets. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


535 


pilot  major  and  royal  cosmographer  alone  kept  the  keys.  There  exists 
a  document  by  which  one  of  the  companions  of  Magellan  was  put 
under  a  penalty  of  two  thousand  ducats  not  to  disclose  the  route  he 
traversed  in  that  famous  voyage.  We  know  how  Columbus  endeavored 
to  conceal  the  route  of  his  final  voyage,  in  which  he  reached  the  coast 
of  Veragua. 


MUNSTER,  1532. 

In  the  two  maps  of  nearly  equal  date,  being  the  earliest  engraved 
charts  which  we  have,  the  Ruysch  map  of  1508  and  the  so-called  Ad 
miral's  map  of  1507  (1513),  the  question  of  a  strait  leading   Astraitto 
to  the  Asiatic  seas,  which  Columbus  had  spent  so  much  en-   India- 
ergy  in  trying  to  find  during  his  last  voyage,  is  treated  differently.    We 
have  seen  that  La  Cosa  confessed  his  uncertain  knowledge  by  covering 


536 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


©tobue  ifflfflW 
®edaratiofiue  DefcrrMo  munfci 

~i~f~i 


onute  coa  mediocweraccfo  adoculurtderc  ticeran/ 
cdce  noftns  oppofiti  funiifct  quattter  in  vna/ 
quac^o:b!0partebommc9  vftamagcre  queunt  falutarc,fole  fin/ 
gulatcrre  locaillufirantc-quemmcn  terra  in  vacuoaere  pcndcrc 


icrr  an!  parts  nupcrab  3mcrtco  rcpcrra* 


GLOBUS  MUNDI. 


the  place  with  a  vignette.  In  the  Ruysch  map  there  is  left  the  possibil 
ity  of  such  a  passage  ;  in  the  other  there  is  none,  for  the  main  shore  is 
that  of  Asia  itself,  whose  coast  line  uninterruptedly  connects  with  that 
of  South  America.  The  belief  in  such  a  strait  in  due  time  was  fixed, 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  537 


f  ounoe  tan&ejJ  anfc  ifllanDes. 
eatttoatoe  as  toefttoatDe  ,  ag 
are  bnotoen  anO  fount)  in  tljeCe  oure 
Dape0,aftet  thtttefcriptionof  <^>e* 
baftian  fl^unfter  in  !n$  bohe  of  but- 
ucrfall  Cotmograpbie  tto^enntbe 
Dihgenr  reader  map  fee  rt)r  gooD 
fuccelTeanD  retoaroe  of  noble 


areobtapnco, 


ft  tan  faptijrm 

UrgrD. 
ttanflateb  out  of  Satin  into  ^ngWljf  . 


EDEN. 

and  lingered  even  beyond  the  time  when  Cortes  showed  there  was  no 
ground  for  it.  We  find  it  in  Schoner's  globes,  in  the  Tross  gores,  and 
even  so  late  as  1532,  in  the  belated  map  of  Minister. 

The  map  of  the  Globus  Mundi   (Strassbnrg,  1509)  has  some  sig 
nificance  as  being  the  earliest  issued  north  of  the  Alps,  re 
cording   both    the    Portuguese   and    Spanish    discoveries; 


though  it  merely  gives  the  projecting  angle  of  the  South  ma^e  north 
American  coast  as  representing  the  developments  of  the  of  tbe  Alp8' 
west. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  reference  to  the  new  discoveries  had  appeared 
in  English   literature  before  Alexander  Barclay  produced  in  1509  a 


538  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

translation  of  Brant's  Ship  of  Fools,  and  for  a  few  years  there  were 
only  chance  references  which  made  no  impression  on  the 
literary  instincts  of  the  time.  It  was  not  till  after  the  mid- 


•ca"  die  of  the  century,  in  1553,  that  Richard  Eden,  translating  a 
section  of  Sebastian  Minister's  Cosmographia,  published  it  in  London 
as  a  Treatyse  of  the  newe  India,  and  English-reading  people  first  saw 
a  considerable  account  of  what  the  rest  of  Europe  had  been  doing  in 
Richard  contrast  with  the  English  maritime  apathy.  Two  years  later 
Eden.  (1555),  Eden,  drawing  this  time  upon  Peter  Martyr,  did 

much  in  his  Decades  of  the  Newe  World  to  enlarge  the  English  con 
ceptions. 

But  the  most  striking  and  significant  of  all  the  literary  movements 
The  namin  which  grew  out  of  the  new  oceanic  developments  was  that 
of  America.  which  gave  a  name  to  the  New  World,  and  has  left  a  conti 
nent,  which  Columbus  unwittingly  found,  the  monument  of  another's 
fame. 

It  was  in  September,  1504,  that  Vespucius,  remembering  an  old 
schoolmate  in  Florence,  Piero  Soderini,  who  was  then  the 
tember.  ep~  perpetual  Gonfaloniere  of  that  city,  took  what  it  is  sup- 
posed  he  had  written  out  at  length  concerning  his  experi- 
ences  in  the  New  World,  and  made  an  abstract  of  it  in 
Italian.  Dating  this  on  the  4th  of  that  month,  he  dispatched  it  to  Italy. 
It  is  a  question  whether  the  original  of  this  abridged  text  of  Vespucius 
is  now  known,  though  Varnhagen,  with  a  confidence  few  scholars  have 
shared,  has  claimed  such  authenticity  for  a  text  which  he  has  printed. 
It  concerns  us  chiefly  to  know  that  somehow  a  copy  of  this  con 
densed  narrative  of  Vespucius  came  into  the  hands  of  his  fellow- 
townsman,  Fra  Giovanni  Giocondo,  then  in  Paris  at  work  as  an  archi 
tect  constructing  a  bridge  over  the  Seine.  It  is  to  be  allowed  that 
R.  H.  Major,  in  tracing  the  origin  of  the  French  text,  assumes  some 
thing  to  complete  his  story,  and  that  this  precise  genesis  of  the  narra 
tive  which  was  received  by  Duke  Ren£  of  Lorraine  is  open  to  some 
question.  The  supposition  that  a  young  Alsatian,  then  in  Paris,  Ma- 
thias  Ringmann,  had  been  a  friend  of  Giocondo,  and  had  been  the 
bearer  of  this  new  version  to  Rene*,  is  likewise  a  conjecture.  Whether 
Ringmann  was  such  a  messenger  or  not  matters  little,  but  the  time 
was  fast  approaching  when  this  young  man  was  to  be  associated  with  a 
proposition  made  in  the  little  village  of  St.  Die*,  in  the 
Vosges,  which  was  one  of  those  obscure  but  far-reaching 
mental  premonitions  so  often  affecting  the  world's  history,  without  the 
backing  of  great  names  or  great  events.  This  almost  unknown  place 
was  within  the  domain  of  this  same  Duke  Rene*,  a  wise  man,  who 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL    RESULTS.  539 

liked  scholars  and  scholarly  tomes.    His  patronage  had  fostered  there  a 
small  college  and  a  printing-press.    There  had  been  grouped 

Duke  Rei^. 

around  these  agencies  a  number  ot  learned  men,  or  those 


VESPUCIUS. 


ambitious  of  knowledge.  Scholars  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  when  they 
heard  of  this  little  coterie,  wondered  how  its  members  had  congre 
gated  there.  One  Walter  Lud,  or  Gualterus  Ludovicus,  as  they  liked 


540  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

to  Latinize  his  name,  a  dependent  and  secretary  of  Duke  Rene*,  was 
now  a  man  not  much  under  sixty,  and  he  had  been  the  grouper  and 
manager  of  this  body  of  scholars.  There  had  lately  been  brought  to 
join  them  this  same  Mathias  Ringmann,  who  came  from  Paris  with  all 
the  learning  that  he  had  tried  to  imbibe  under  the  tutoring  of  Dr. 
John  Faber.  If  we  believe  the  story  as  Major  has  worked  it  out, 
Ringmann  had  come  to  this  sparse  community  with  all  the  fervor  for 
the  exploits  of  Vespucius  which  he  got  in  the  French  capital  from 
associating  with  that  Florentine's  admirer,  the  architect  Giocondo. 

Coming  to  St.  Die',  Ringmann  had  been  made  a  professor  of  Latin, 
and  with  the  usual  nominal  alternation  had  become  known  as  Phi- 
lesius ;  and  as  such  he  appears  a  little  later  in  connection  with  a  Latin 
version  of  the  French  of  Giocondo,  which  was  soon  made  by  another 
of  the  St.  Die'  scholars,  a  canon  of  the  cathedral  there,  Jean  Bassin 
de  Sandacourt.  Still  another  young  man,  Walter  Waldseemiiller,  had 
not  long  before  been  made  a  teacher  of  geography  in  the  college,  and 
his  name,  as  was  the  wont,  had  been  classicized  into  Hylacomylus. 

There  have  now  been  brought  before  the  reader  all  the  actors  in 
this  little  St.  Die'  drama,  upon  which  we,  as  Americans,  must  gaze 
back  through  the  centuries  as  upon  the  baptismal  scene  of  a  continent. 

The  Duke  had  emphasized  the  cosmographical  studies  of  the  age  by 
this  appointment  of  an  energetic  young  student  of  geography,  who 
waidsee-  seems  to  have  had  a  deft  hand  at  map-making.  Waldsee- 
inuUer.  miiller  had  some  hand,  at  least,  in  fashioning  a  map  of  the 
new  discoveries  at  the  west,  and  the  Duke  had  caused  the  map  to  be 
engraved,  and  we  find  a  stray  note  of  sales  of  it  singly  as  early  as 
1507,  though  it  was  not  till  1513  that  it  fairly  got  before  the  world  in 
the  Ptolemy  of  that  year.  Waldseemiiller  had  also  developed  out  of 
these  studies  a  little  cosmographical  treatise,  which  the  college  press 
was  set  to  work  upon,  and  to  swell  it  to  the  dignity  of  a  book,  thin  as 
it  still  was,  the  diminutive  quarto  was  made  to  include  Bassin's  Latin 
version  of  the  Vespucius  narrative,  set  out  with  some  Latin  verses  by 
Ringmann.  The  little  book  called  Cosmographies  Intro- 
firaphice  ductio  was  brought  out  at  this  obscure  college  press  in  St 

fntroductio.      -r^.  .    .        .        .-,         ,     A  .     H  w/^r,       mi  •   ^« 

Die,  in  April  and  August,  1507.  There  were  some  varieties 
in  each  of  these  issues,  while  that  part  which  constituted  the  Vespucius 
narrative  was  further  issued  in  a  separate  publication. 

It  was  in  this  form  that  Vespucius's  narrative  was  for  the  first  time, 
unless  Varnhagen's  judgment  to  the  contrary  be  accepted  by  the  reader, 
brought  before  the  world.  The  most  significant  quality  of  the  little 
book,  however,  was  the  proposition  which  Waldseemiiller,  with  his 
anonymous  views  on  cosmography,  advanced  in  the  introductory  parts. 
It  is  assumed  by  writers  on  the  subject  that  it  was  not  Waldseemiiller 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  541 

alone  who  was  responsible  for  the  plan  there  given  to  name  that  part 
of  the  New  World  which  Americas  Vespucius  had  described  after  the 
voyager  who  had  so  graphically  told  his  experiences  on  its  shores. 
The  plan,  it  is  supposed,  met  wjith  the  approval  of,  or  was  the  outcome 

COSMOGRAPHIAB 

INTRODVCTIO 

CVM  QVIBVS 

DAM  GEOMJS 

TRIAE 

AC 

ASTRONO 
MIAB  PRINCIPIIS  AD 
EAM  REM  NECESSARUS 

Infiipcr  qtiattuor  Amend 
Velpucij  nauigationeS* 

Vniuerfalfs  Cofmo  graphic  defcrip  tio  tail! 
in  foli  do  cpplano/cis  ctfam  infertis 
qu<ePtholom£O  ignotaanu 

peris  reperta  funt» 

DISTHYCON 

Cum  dcus  aftrategat/Sd  tcrraecKmataCsrfac 

Nee  tellus/neceis  fyderamaius  habentv 

TITLE  OF    THE  COSMOGRAPHY  INTRODUCTIO. 

of  the  counsels  of,  this  little  band  of  St.  Die*  scholars  collectively.  It 
is  not  the  belief  of  students  generally  that  this  coterie,  any  more  than 
Vespucius  himself,  ever  imagined  that  the  new  regions  were  really  dis 
joined  from  the  Asiatic  main,  though  Varnhagen  contends  that  Ves 
pucius  knew  they  were.  One  thing  is  certainly  true :  that  there  was 


542  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

no  intention  to  apply  the  name  which  was  now  proposed  to  anything 
more  than  the  continental  mass  of  the  Brazilian  shore  which  Vespucius 
had  coasted,  and  which  was  looked  upon  as  a  distinct  region  from 
the  islands  which  Columbus  had  traversed.  It  had  come  to  be  believed 
that  the  archipelago  of  Columbus  was  far  from  the  paradise  of  luxury 
and  wealth  that  his  extravagant  terms  called  for,  and  which  the  de 
scriptions  of  Marco  Polo  had  led  the  world  to  expect,  supposing  the 
regions  of  the  overland  and  oceanic  discoverers  to  be  the  same.  Fur 
ther  than  this,  a  new  expectation  had  been  aroused  by  the  reports 
which  had  come  to  Europe  of  the  vaster  proportions  and  of  the  bril 
liant  paroquets  —  for  such  trivial  aspects  gave  emphasis  —  of  the  more 
southern  regions.  It  was  an  instance  of  the  eagerness  with  which 
deluded  minds,  to  atone  for  their  first  disappointment,  grasp  at  the 
Mundm  chances  of  a  newer  satisfaction.  This  was  the  hope  which 
Novus.  was  entertained  of  this  Mundus  Novus  of  Vespucius,  — 
not  a  new  world  in  the  sense  of  a  new  continent. 

The  Espanola  and  its  neighboring  regions  of  Columbus,  and  the 
Baccalaos  of  Cabot  and  Cortereal,  clothed  in  imagination  with  the  de 
scriptions  of  Marco  Polo,  were  nothing  but  the  Old  World  approached 
from  the  east  instead  of  from  the  west.  It  was  different  with  the 
Mundus  Novus  of  Vespucius.  Here  was  in  reality  a  new  life  and 
habitation,  doubtless  connected,  but  how  it  was  not  known,  with  the 
great  eastern  world  of  the  merchants.  It  corresponded  with  nothing, 
so  far  as  understood,  in  the  Asiatic  chorography.  It  was  ready  for  a 
new  name,  and  it  was  alone  associated  with  the  man  who  had,  in  the 
autumn  of  1502,  so  described  it,  and  from  no  one  else  could  its  name 
be  so  acceptably  taken.  Europe  and  Asia  were  geographically  con 
tiguous,  and  so  might  be  Asia  and  the  new  "America." 

The  sudden  eclipse  which  the  name  of  Columbus  underwent,  as  the 

fame  of  Vespucius  ran  through  the  popular  mind,  was  no 

Coilfmbus's    unusual  thing  in  the  vicissitudes  of  reputations.     Factitious 

prominence  is  gained  without  great  difficulty  by  one  or  for 

one,  if  popular  issues  of  the  press  are  worked  in  his  interest,  and  if 

a  great  variety  of  favoring  circumstances  unite  in  giving  currency  to 

rumors  and  reports  which  tend  to  invest  him  with  exclusive  interest. 

The  curious  public  willingly  lends  itself  to  any  end  that  taxes  nothing 

but  its  credulity  and  good  nature. 

We  have  associated  with  Vespucius  just  the  elements  of  such  a  suc- 
Fame  of  cess'  wn^e  tne  fame  of  Columbus  was  waning  to  the  death, 
Vespucius.  namely :  a  stretch  of  continental  coast,  promising  something 
more  than  the  scattered  trifles  of  an  insalubrious  archipelago ;  a  new 
southern  heavens,  offering  other  glimpses  of  immensity ;  descriptions 
that  were  calculated  to  replace  in  new  variety  and  mystery  the  stale 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  548 

stories  of  Cipango  and  Cathay:  the  busy  yearnings  of  a  group  of 
young  and  ardent  spirits,  having  all  the  apparatus  of  a  press  to  apply 
to  the  making  of  a  public  sentiment ;  and  the  enthusiasm  of  narrators 
who  sought  to  season  their  marvels  of  discovery  with  new  delights  and 
honors. 

The  hold  which  Vespucius  had  seized  upon  the  imagination  of  Eu 
rope,  and  which  doubtless  served  to  give  him  prominence  in  the  popu 
lar  appreciation,  as  it  has  served  many  a  ready  and  picturesque  writer 
since,  was  that  glowing  redundancy  of  description,  both  of  the  earth 
and  the  southern  constellations,  which  forms  so  conspicuous  a  feature 
of  his  narratives.  It  was  the  later  voyage  of  Vespucius,  and  not  his 
alleged  voyage  of  1497,  which  raised,  as  Humboldt  has  pointed  out, 
the  great  interest  which  his  name  suggested. 

Just  what  the  notion  prevailing  at  the  time  was  of  the  respective 
exploits  of  Columbus  and  Vespucius  is  easily  gathered  from 
a  letter  dated  May  20,  1506,  which  appears  in  a  Dyalogus   and  Vespu- 
Johannis  Stamler  de  diver sarum  gencium  sectis,  et  mundi 
regionibus,  published  in  1508.     In  this  treatise  a  reference  is  made  to 
the  letters  of  Columbus  (1493)  and  Vespucius   (1503)  as  concerning 
an  insular  and   continental  space  respectively.     It   speaks   of  "  Cris- 
tofer  Coloin,  the  discoverer  of  new  islands,  and  of  Albericus  Vespu 
cius  concerning  the  new  discovered  world,  to  both  of  whom  our  age  is 
most  largely  indebted."     It  will  be  remembered  that  an  early  misnam 
ing  of  Vespucius  by  calling  him  Albericus  instead  of  Americus,  which 
took  place  in  one  of  the  early  editions  of  his  narrative,  remained  for 
some  time  to  confuse  the  copiers  of  them. 

If  we  may  judge  from  a  diagram  which  Vespucius  gives  of  a  globe 
with  two  standing  men  on  it  ninety  degrees  apart,  each  dropping  a 
line  to  the  centre  of  the  earth,  this  navigator  had  grasped,  together 
with  the  idea  of  the  sphericity  of  the  globe,  the  essential 
conditions  of  gravitation.     There  could  be  no  up-hill  sailing   oiTgravita- 
when  the  zenith  was  always  overhead.     Curiously  enough, 
the  supposition  of  Columbus,  when  as  he  sailed  on  his  third  voyage  he 
found  the  air  grow  colder,  was  that  he  was  actually  sailing  up-hill,  as 
cending  a  protuberance  of  the  earth  which  was  like  the  stem  end  of  a 
pear,  with  the   crowning  region  of  the  earthly  paradise  atop  of  all ! 
Such  contrasts  show  the  lesser  navigator  to  be  the  greater  physicist, 
and  they  go  not  a  small  way  in  accounting  for  the  levelness  of  head 
which  gained  the  suffrages  of  the  wise. 

When  Duke  Rend,  upon  whom  so  much  had  depended  in  the  little 
community  at  St.  Did,  died,  in  1508,  the  geographical  print-  1508  Duke 
ing  schemes  of  Waldseemiiller  and  his  fellows  received  a 


544 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


severe  reverse,  and  for  a  few  years  we  hear  nothing  more  of  the  edi 
tion  of  Ptolemy  which  had  been  planned.  The  next  year  (1509), 
Waldseemiiller,  now  putting  his  name  to  his  little  treatise,  was  forced, 


PART  OF  MAP  IN  THE 


because  of  the  failure  of  the  college  press,  to  go  to  Strassburg  to  have 
a  new  edition  of  it  printed  (1509).  The  proposals  for  naming  the 
continental  discoveries  of  Vespucius  seem  not  in  the  interim  to  have 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


545 


excited  any  question,  and  so  they  are  repeated.  We  look  in  vain  in 
the  copy  of  this  edition  which  Ferdinand  Columbus  bought  at  Venice 
in  July,  1521,  and  which  is  preserved  at  Seville,  for  any  marginal  pro- 


PTOLEMY   OF   1513. 

test.  The  author  of  the  Historic,  how  far  soever  Ferdinand  may  have 
been  responsible  for  that  book,  is  equally  reticent.  There  was  indeed 
no  reason  why  he  should  take  any  exception.  The  fitness  of  the 


546  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

appellation  was  accepted  as  in  no  way  invalidating  the  claim  of  Colum 
bus  to  discoveries  farther  to  the  north  ;  and  in  another  little  tract, 
1509  Glo  Prmted  at  the  same  time  at  Grtiniger's  Strassburg  press,  the 
bus  Mundi.  anonymous  Globus  Mundi,  the  name  "  America  "  is  adopted 
in  the  text,  though  the  small  bit  of  the  new  coast  shown  in  its  map  is 
called  by  a  translation  of  Vespucius's  own  designation  merely  "  Newe 
Welt." 

The  Ptolemy  scheme  bore  fruit  at  last,  and  at  Strassburg,  also,  for 
here  the  edition  whose  maps  are  associated  with  the  name 
strasstorg  of  Waldseemtiller,  and  whose  text  shows  some  of  the  influ- 
Etoiemy.  ence  ^  ^  Greek  manuscript  of  the  old  geographer  which 
Kingmann  had  earlier  brought  from  Italy,  came  out  in  1513.  Here 
was  a  chance,  in  a  book  far  more  sure  to  have  influence  than  the  little 
anonymous  tract  of  1507,  to  impress  the  new  name  America  upon 
the  world  of  scholars  and  observers,  and  the  opportunity  was  not 
seized.  It  is  not  easy  to  divine  the  cause  of  such  an  omission.  The  edi 
tion  has  two  maps  which  show  this  Vespucian  continent  in  precisely 
the  same  way,  though  but  one  of  them  shows  also  to  its  full  extent 
the  region  of  Columbus's  explorations.  On  one  of  these  maps  the 
southern  regions  have  no  designation  whatever,  and  on  the  other,  the 
"  Admiral's  map,"  there  is  a  legend  stretched  across  it,  assigning  the 
discovery  of  the  region  to  Columbus. 

We  do  not  know,  in  all  the  contemporary  literature  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  that  up  to  1513  there  had  been  any  rebuke  at  the  igno 
rance  or  temerity  which  appeared  in  its  large  bearing  to  be  depriving 
Columbus  of  a  rightful  honor.  That  in  1509  Waldseemtiller  should 
have  enforced  the  credit  given  to  Vespucius,  and  in  1513  revoked  it  in 
favor  of  Columbus,  seems  to  indicate  qualms  of  conscience  of  which 
we  have  no  other  trace.  Perhaps,  indeed,  this  reversion  of  sympathy 
is  of  itself  an  evidence  that  Waldseemtiller  had  less  to  do  with  the 
edition  than  has  been  supposed.  It  is  too  much  to  assert  that  Wald 
seemtiller  repented  of  his  haste,  but  the  facts  in  one  light  would  in 
dicate  it. 

Like  many  such  headlong  projects,  however,  the  purpose  had  passed 
The  name  beyond  the  control  of  its  promoters.  The  euphony,  if  not 
ginsetobebe"  the  fitness,  of  the  name  America  had  attracted  attention, 
accepted.  an(j  faeTe  are  several  printed  and  manuscript  globes  and 
maps  in  existence  which  at  an  early  date  adopted  that  designation 
for  the  southern  continent.  Nordenskiold  (Facsimile  Atlas,  p.  42) 
quotes  from  the  commentaries  of  the  German  Coclaeus,  contained  in 
the  Meteorologia  Aristotelis  of  Jacobus  Faber  (Nuremberg,  1512) 
a  passage  referring  to  the  "  Nova  Americi  terra."  To  complicate 
matters  still  more,  within  a  few  years  after  this  an  undated  edition  of 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


547 


Waldseemiiller's  tract  appeared  at  Lyons,  —  perhaps  without  his  par 
ticipation,  —  which  was  always  found,  down  to  1881,  without  a  map, 
though  the  copies  known  were  very  few ;  but  in  that  year  a  copy  with 
a  map  was  discovered,  now  owned  by  an  American  collector,  in  which 


THE   TROSS   GORES. 

the  proposition  of  the  text  is  enforced  with  the  name  America  on  the 

representation  of  South  America.     A  section  of  this  map  is  here  given 

as  the  Tross  Gores.     In  the  present  condition  of  our  knowledge  of  the 

matter,  it  was  thus  at  a  date  somewhere  about  1515-18  that 

the  name  appeared  first  in  any  printed  map,  unless,  indeed,    First  in  a 

we  allow  a  somewhat  earlier  date  to  two  globes  in  the  Haiis- 

lab  collection  at  Vienna.     On  the  date  of  these  last  objects  there  is, 


548 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


however,  much  difference  of  opinion,  and  one  of  them  has  been  de 
picted  and  discussed  in  the  Mittheilungen  of  the  Geographische 
Gesellschaft  (1886,  p.  364)  of  Vienna.  Here,  as  in  the  descriptive 
texts,  it  must  be  clearly  kept  in  mind,  how.ever,  that  no  one  at  this 
date  thought  of  applying  the  name  to  more  than  the  land  which  Ves- 


THE  HAUSLAB  GLOBE. 

pucius  had  found  stretching  south  beyond  the  equator  on  the  east  side 
of  South  America,  and  which  Balboa  had  shown  to  have  a  similar 
trend  on  the  west.  The  islands  and  region  to  the  north,  which  Colum 
bus  and  Cabot  had  been  the  pioneers  in  discovering,  still  remained 
a  mystery  in  their  relations  to  Asia,  and  there  was  yet  a  long  time  to 
elapse  before  the  truth  should  be  manifest  to  all,  that  a  similar  ex 
panse  of  ocean  lay  westerly  at  the  north,  as  was  shown  by  Balboa  to 
extend  in  the  same  direction  at  the  south. 

This  Vespucian  baptism  of  South  America  now  easily  worked  its 
way  to  general  recognition.  It  is  found  in  a  contemporary  set  of 
gores  which  Nordenskiold  has  of  late  brought  to  light,  and  was  soon 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


549 


THE   NORDENSKIOLD   GORES. 


550 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


APIANUS,  1520. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


551 


adopted  by  the  Nuremberg  globe-maker,  Schoner  (1515,  etc.)  ;  by 
Vadianus  at  Vienna,  when  editing  Pomponius  Mela  (1515)  ;  by  Apian 
on  a  map  used  in  an  edition  of  Solinus,  edited  by  Gamers  (1520)  ; 


SCHONER  GLOBE,  1515. 

and  by  Lorenz  Friess,  who  had  been  of  Duke  Renews  coterie  and  a 
correspondent  of  Vespucius,  on  a  map  introduced  into  the 
Griiniger  Ptolemy,  published  at  Strassburg  (1522),  which   name  first^n 
also  reproduced  the  Waldseemiiller  map  of  1513,     This  is   a  ptolemy- 
the  earliest  of  the  Ptolemies  in  which  we  find  the  name  accepted  on 
its  maps. 


FRIESS  (Frisius),  IN  THE  PTOLEMY  OF  1522. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  553 

There  is  one  significant  fact  concerning  the  conflict  of  the  Crown 
with  the  heirs  of  Columbus,  which  followed  upon  the  Admiral's  death, 
and  in  which  the  advocates  of  the  government  sought  to  prove  that 
the  claim  of  Columbus  to  have  discovered  the  continental  shore  about 
the  Gulf  of  Paria  in  1498  was  not  to  be  sustained  in  view  of  visits  by 
others  at  an  earlier  date.  This  significant  fact  is  that  Vespucius  is 
not  once  mentioned  during  the  litigation.  It  is  of  course  possible,  and 
perhaps  probable,  that  it  was  for  the  interests  of  both  parties  to  keep 
out  of  view  a  servant  of  Portugal  trenching  upon  what  was  believed  to 
be  Spanish  territories.  The  same  impulse  could  hardly  have  influ 
enced  Ferdinand  Columbus  in  the  silent  acquiescence  which,  as  a  con 
temporary  informs  us,  was  his  attitude  towards  the  action  of  the  St. 
Die"  professors.  There  seems  little  doubt  of  his  acceptance  of  a  view, 
then  undoubtedly  common,  that  there  was  no  conflict  of  the  claims  of 
the  respective  navigators,  because  their  different  fields  of  exploration 
had  not  brought  such  claims  in  juxtaposition. 

Following,  however,  upon  the  assertion  of  Waldseemtiller,  that  Ves 
pucius  had  "  found  "  this  continental  tract  needing  a  name,  there  grew 
up  a  belief  in  some  quarters,  and  deducible  from  the  very  obscure 
chronology  of  his  narrative,  which  formulated  itself  in  a  statement 
that  Vespucius  had  really  been  the  first  to  set  foot  on  any 
part  of  this  extended  main.  It  was  here  that  very  soon  the  landed  on 


jealousy  of  those  who  had  the  good  name  of  Columbus  in 
their  keeping  began  to  manifest  itself,  and  some  time  after 
1527,  —  if  we  accept  that  year  as  the  date  of  his  beginning  work  on 
the  Historia,  —  Las  Casas,  who  had  had  some  intimate  relations  with 
Columbus,  tells  us  that  the  report  was  rife  of  Vespucius  himself  being- 
privy  to  such  pretensions.  Unless  Las  Casas,  or  the  reporters  to  whom 
he  referred,  had  material  of  which  no  one  now  has  knowledge,  it  is 
certain  that  there  is  no  evidence  connecting  Vespucius  with  the  St. 
Die*  proposition,  and  it  is  equally  certain  that  evidence  fails  to  estab 
lish  beyond  doubt  the  publication  of  any  map  bearing  the  name  Amer 
ica  while  Vespucius  lived.  He  had  been  made  pilot  major  of  Spain 
March  22,  1508,  and  had  died  February  22,  1512.  We  have  no  chart 
made  by  Vespucius  himself,  though  it  is  known  that  in  1518  such  a 
chart  was  in  the  possession  of  Ferdinand,  brother  of  Charles  Vespucius's 
the  Fifth.  The  recovery  of  this  chart  would  doubtless  ren-  maPs- 
der  a  signal  service  in  illuminating  this  and  other  questions  of  early 
American  cartography.  It  might  show  us  how  far,  if  at  all,  Vespu 
cius  "'  sinfully  failed  towards  the  Admiral,"  as  Las  Casas 

pi'  i  TCTT  •  Vespucius 

reports  ot  him,  and  adds:   "If   Vespucius  purposely  gave   not  privy  to 

currency  to  this  belief  of  his  first  setting  foot  on  the  main, 

it  was  a  great  wickedness  ;  and  if  it  was  not  done  intentionally,  it  looks 


554  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

like  it."  With  all  this  predisposition,  however,  towards  an  implication 
of  Vespucius,  Las  Casas  was  cautious  enough  to  consider  that,  after 
all,  it  may  have  been  the  St.  Die*  coterie  who  were  alone  responsible 
for  starting  the  rumor. 

It  is  very  clear  that  in  Spain  there  had  been  no  recognition  of  the 

name  "  America,"  nor  was  it  ever  officially  recognized  by 
not  used  in  the  Spanish  government.  Las  Casas  understood  that  it  had 

been  applied  by  "  foreigners,"  who  had,  as  he  says,  "  called 
'America  what  ought  to  be  called  Columba."  Just  what  date  should 
1541.  Mer-  attach  to  tnig  protest  of  Las  Casas  is  not  determinable.  If  it 

was  *ater  ^an  tne  g01>e-map  of  Mercator  in  1541,  which 


name  to         was  the  first,  so  far  as  is  known,  to  apply  the  name  to  both 

both  North         _  _.  # 

and  South  North  and  South  America,  there  is  certainly  good  reason 
for  the  disquietude  of  Las  Casas.  If  it  was  before  that,  it 
was  because,  with  the  progress  of  discovery,  it  had  become  more  and 
more  clear  that  all  parts  of  the  new  regions  were  component  parts  of 
an  absolutely  new  continent,  upon  which  the  name  of  the  first  discov 
erer  of  any  part  of  it,  main  or  insular,  ought  to  have  been  bestowed. 
That  it  should  be  left  to  "  foreign  writers,"  as  Las  Casas  said,  to  give 
a  name  representing  a  rival  interest  to  a  world  that  Spanish  enter 
prise  had  made  known  was  no  less  an  indignity  to  Spain  than  to  her 
great  though  adopted  Admiral.  [See  Note  on  p.  660.] 

It  happens  that  the  suggestion  which  sprang  up  in  the  Vosges 
worked  steadily  onward  through  the  whole  of  central  Europe.  That 
it  had  so  successful  a  propagation  is  owing,  beyond  a  doubt,  as  much 
to  the  exclusive  spirit  of  the  Spanish  government  in  keeping  to  itself 
its  hydrographical  progress  as  to  any  other  cause.  We 
have  seen  how  the  name  spread  through  Germany  and  Aus- 
tria.  It  was  taken  up  by  Stobnicza  in  Poland  in  1512,  in  a 
Cracow  introduction  to  Ptolemy  ;  and  many  other  of  the 
geographical  writers  of  central  and  southern  Europe  adopted  the  des 
ignation.  The  New  Interlude,  published  in  England  in  1519,  had 
used  it,  and  towards  the  middle  of  the  century  the  fame  of  Ves 
pucius  had  occupied  England,  so  far  as  Sir  Thomas  More  and  William 
Cunningham  represent  it,  to  the  almost  total  obscuration  of  Columbus. 
It  was  but  a  question  of  time  when  Vespucius  would  be  charged 
with  promoting  his  own  glory  by  borrowing  the  plumes  of  Columbus. 
Whether  Las  Casas,  in  what  has  been  quoted,  initiated  such  accusa 
tions  or  not,  the  account  of  that  writer  was  in  manuscript  and  could 
have  had  but  small  currency. 

The  first  accusation  in  print,  so  far  as  has  been  discovered,  came 
from  the  German  geographer,  Johann  Schoner,  who,  having  already 
in  his  earlier  globes  adopted  the  name  America,  now  in  a  tract  called 


THE    GEOGRAPHICAL    RESULTS.  555 

Opusculum  Geographicum,  which  he  printed  at  Nuremberg  in  1533, 
openly  charged  Vespucius  with  attaching  his  own  name  to    1533.  scho- 
a  region  of  India  Superior.      Two    years  later,   Servetus, 
while  he  repeated  in  his  Ptolemy  of  1535  the  earlier  maps 
bearing  the  name  America,  entered  in  his  text  a  protest   iniustice- 
against  its  use  by  alleging  distinctly  that  Columbus  was  earlier  than 
Vespucius  in  finding  the  new  main. 

Within  a  little  more  than  a  year  from  the  death  of  Vespucius,  and 
while  the  maps  assigned  to  Waldseemtiller  were  pressed  on  the  atten 
tion  of  scholars,  the  integralness  of  the  great  southern  continent,  to 
which  a  name  commemorating  Americus  had  been  given,  was  made 
manifest,  or  at  least  probable,  by  the  discovery  of  Balboa. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  course  of  discovery  was  finding  record  dur 
ing  these  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  respect  to    A  barrier 
the  great  but  unsuspected  barrier  which  actually  interposed    8usPected. 
in  the  way  of  those  who  sought  Asia  over  against  Spain. 

In  the  north,  the  discoveries  of  the  English  under  Cabot,  and  of  the 
Portuguese  under  the  Cortereals,  soon  led  the  Normans  and    DiscOTeries 
Bretons  from  Dieppe  and  Saint  Malo  to  follow  in  the  wake    in  the  north. 
of  such  predecessors.     As  early  as  1504  the  fishermen  of  these  latter 
peoples  seem  to  have  been  on  the  northern  coasts,  and  we 

1  '"ifVl      Nor 

owe  to  them  the  name  of  Cape  Breton,  which  is  thought  to   mans  and 
be  the  oldest  French  name  in  our  American  geography.     It 
is  the  "  Gran  Capitano "  of  Ramusio  who  credits  the   Bretons  with 
these  early  visits  at  the  north,  though  we  get  no  positive  cartograph 
ical  record  of  such  visits  till  1520,  in  a  map  which  is  given  by  Kunst- 
mann  in  his  Atlas. 

Again,  in  1505,  some  Portuguese  appear  to  have  been  on  the  New 
foundland  coast  under  the  royal  patronage  of  Henry  VII.    1505    Por 
of  England,  and  by  1506  the  Portuguese  fishermen  were   t»g«ese. 
regular  frequenters  of  the  Newfoundland  banks.      We  find  in  the  old 
maps  Portuguese  names  somewhat  widely  scattered  on  the  neighboring 
coast  lines,  for  the  frequenting  of  the  region  by  the  fishermen  of  that 
nation  continued  well  towards  the  close  of  the  century. 

There  are  also  stories  of  one  Velasco,  a  Spaniard,  visiting  the  St. 
Lawrence  in  1506,  and  Juan  de  Agramonte  in  1511  entered    150G    s     _ 
into  an  agreement  with  the  Spanish  King  to  pursue  discov-   iards- 
ery  in  these  parts  more  actively,  but  we  have  no  definite  knowledge  of 
results. 

The  death  of  Ferdinand,  January  23,  1516,  would  seem  to  have  put 
a  stop  to  a  voyage  which  had  already  been  planned  for  Spain  by  Se 
bastian  Cabot,  to  find  a  northwest  passage  ;  but  the  next  year  (1517) 


556  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Cabot,  in  behalf  of  England,  had  sailed  to  Hudson's  Strait,  and  thence 
1517  Sebas-  nortn  to  ^7°  30',  finding  u  no  night  there,"  and  observing 
tian  Cabot,  extraordinary  variations  of  the  compass.  Somewhat  later 
1521  Portu  tnere  are  *ne  verv  doubtful  claims  of  the  Portuguese  to  ex- 
guese.  plorations  under  Fagundes  about  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 

in  1521. 

By  1506  also  there  is  something  like  certainty  respecting  the  Nor 
mans,  and  under  the  influence  of  a  notable  Dieppese,  Jean 
go's  cap-"  Ango,  we  soon  meet  a  class  of  adventurous  mariners  tempt 
ing  distant  and  marvelous  seas.  We  read  of  Pierre  Cri- 
gnon,  and  Thomas  Aubert,  both  of  Dieppe,  Jean  Denys  of  Honfleur, 
and  Jean  Parmentier,  all  of  whom  have  come  down  to  us  through  the 
pages  of  Ramusio.  It  is  of  Jean  Denys  in  1506.  and  of  Thomas  Au 
bert  a  little  later,  that  we  find  the  fullest  recitals.  To  Denys  there 
Den  s's  nas  ^een  ascribed  a  mysterious  chart  of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Law- 
map,  rence  ;  but  if  the  copy  which  is  preserved  represents  it,  there 
can  be  no  hesitation  in  discarding  it  as  a  much  later  cartographical 
record.  The  original  is  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  archives  of  the 
ministry  of  war  in  Paris  so  late  as  1854,  but  no  such  map  is  found  there 
now.  The  copy  which  was  made  for  the  Canadian  archives  is  at  Ot 
tawa,  and  I  have  been  favored  by  the  authorities  there  with  a  tracing 
of  it.  No  one  of  authority  will  be  inclined  to  dispute  the  judgment  of 
Harrisse  that  it  is  apocryphal.  We  are  accordingly  left  in  uncertainty 
just  how  far  at  this  time  the  contour  of  the  Golfo  Quadrago,  as  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  was  called,  was  made  out.  Aubert  is  said  to 
have  brought  to  France  seven  of  the  natives  of  the  region  in  1509. 
Ten  years  or  more  later  (1519,  etc.),  the  Baron  de  Lery  is 
Ty'  thought  to  have  attempted  a  French  settlement  thereabouts, 
of  which  perhaps  the  only  traces  were  some  European  cattle,  the  de 
scendants  of  his  small  herd  landed  there  in  1528,  which  were  found  on 
Sable  Island  many  years  later. 

We  know  from  Herrera  that  in  1526  Nicholas  Don,  a  Breton,  v/as 
1526  Nich-  fisning  °^  Baccalaos,  and  Rut  tells  us  that  in  1527  Nor- 
oias  Don.  man  an(j  Breton  vessels  were  pulling  fish  on  the  shores  of 
Newfoundland.  Such  mentions  mark  the  early  French  knowledge  of 
these  northern  coasts,  but  there  is  little  in  it  all  to  show  any  contribu 
tion  to  geographical  developments. 

Before  this,  however,  the  first  serious  attempt  of  which  we  have 
Attempts  to  incontrovertible  evidence  was  made  to  connect  these  dis- 
northern  &  coveries  in  the  north  with  those  of  the  Spanish  in  the  An- 
wTth°tboseSof  ^es<  As  e^rly  as  1511  the  map  given  by  Peter  Martyr 
the  Spanish.  ha(j  SQOwn  that,  from  the  native  reports  or  otherwise,  a 
Mart  r?*61  no^on  na^  arisen  of  lands  lying  north  of  Cuba.  In  1512 
map.  Ponce  de  Leon  was  seeking  a  commission  to  authorize  him 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


557 


\Jt 


PETER  MARTYR,  1511. 


558 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


to  go  and  see  what  this  reported  land  was  like,  with  its  fountain  of 
1512.  Ponce  youth.  He  got  it  February  23,  1512,  when  Ferdinand  com- 
deLeon.  missioned  him  "to  find  and  settle  the  island  of  Bimini,"  if 
none  had  already  been  there,  or  if  Portugal  had  not  already  acquired 


PONCE  DE  LEON. 
[From  Barcia's  Herrera.'] 

possession  in  any  part  that  he  sought.  Delays  in  preparation  post- 
1513,  poned  the  actual  departure  of  his  expedition  from  Porto 
March.  Rico  $&  March,  1513.  On  the  23d  of  that  month,  Easter 
Sunday,  he  struck  the  mainland  somewhere  opposite  the  Bahamas,  and 

named  the  country  Florida,  from  the  day  of  the  calendar. 

He  tracked  the  coast  northward  to  a  little  above  30°  north 
latitude.  Then  he  retraced  his  way,  and  rounding  the  southern  cape, 


Florida. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL    RESULTS. 


559 


560  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

went  well  up  the  western  side  of  the  peninsula.  Whether  any  stray 
explorers  had  been  before  along  this  shore  may  be  a  question.  Pri 
vate  Spanish  or  Portuguese  adventurers,  or  even  Englishmen,  had  not 
been  unknown  in  neighboring  waters  some  years  earlier,  as  we  have 
evidence.  We  find  certainly  in  this  voyage  of  Ponce  de  Leon  for  the 
first  time  an  unmistakable  official  undertaking,  which  we  might  expect 
would  soon  have  produced  its  cartographical  record.  The  interdicts 
of  the  Council  of  the  Indies  were,  however,  too  powerful,  and  the  old 
lines  of  the  Cantino  map  still  lingered  in  the  maps  for  some  years, 
though  by  1520  the  Floridian  peninsula  began  to  take  recognizable 
shape  in  certain  Spanish  maps. 

Just  what  stood  for  Bimini  in  the  reports  of  this  expedition  is  not 
clear ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  a  vague  notion  of  its 
not  being  the  same  as  Florida,  for  when  Ponce  de  Leon  got 
a  new  patent  in  September,  1514,  he  was  authorized  to  settle  both 
"  islands,"  Bimini  and  Florida,  and  Diego  Colon  as  viceroy  was  di 
rected  to  help  on  the  expedition.  Seven  years,  however,  passed  in 
delays,  so  that  it  was  not  till  1521  that  he  attempted  to  make  a  settle 
ment,  but  just  at  what  point  is  not  known.  Sickness  and  loss  in  en 
counters  with  the  Indians  soon  discouraged  him,  and  he  returned  to 
Cuba  to  die  of  an  arrow  wound  received  in  one  of  the  forays  of  the 
natives. 

It  was  still  a  question  if  Florida  connected  with  any  adjacent  lands. 
Several  minor  expeditions  had  added  something  to  the  stretch  of  coast, 
1519.  Pi-  kut  *he  mam  problem  still  stood  unsolved.  In  1519  Pineda 
neda.  ^^  made  the  circuit  of  the  northern  shores  of  the  Gulf  of 

Mexico,  and  at  the  river  Panuco  he  had  been  challenged  by  Cortes  as 
trenching  on  his  government.  Turning  again  eastward,  Pineda  found 
the  mouth  of  the  river  named  by  him  Del  Espiritu  Santo,  which 
passes  with  many  modern  students  as  the  first  indication  in  history  of 
the  great  Mississippi,  while  others  trace  the  first  signs  of  that  river  to 
Cabeca  de  Vaca  in  1528,  or  to  the  passage  higher  up  its  current  by 
De  Soto  in  1541.  Believing  it  at  first  the  long-looked-for  strait  to  pass 
to  the  Indies,  Pineda  entered  it,  only  to  be  satisfied  that  it  must  gather 
the  watershed  of  a  continent,  which  in  this  part  was  now  named  Ami- 
chel.  It  seemed  accordingly  certain  that  no  passage  to  the  west  was 
to  be  found  in  this  part  of  the  gulf,  and  that  Florida  must  be  more 
than  an  island. 

While  these  explorations  were  going  on  in  the  gulf,  others  were  con 
ducted  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  Florida.  If  the  Pompey  Stone  which 
has  been  found  in  New  York  State,  to  the  confusion  of  historical  stu 
dents,  be  accepted  as  genuine,  it  is  evidence  that  the  Spaniard  had 
in  1520  penetrated  from  some  point  on  the  coast  to  that  region.  In 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


561 


1520  we  get  demonstrable  proof,  when  Lucas  Vasquez  de  Ayllon  sent 
a  caravel  under  Gordillo,  which  joined  company  on  the  way    1520 
with  another  vessel   bound   on  a  slave-hunting  expedition,    Ayiion. 
and  the  two,  proceeding  northward,  sighted  the  main  coast  at  a  river 
which  they  found  to  be  in  thirty-three  and  a  half  degrees  of  north  lati 
tude,  on  the  South  Carolina  coast.     They  returned  without  further  ex 
ploration.  Ayllon,  without  great  success,  attempted  further  explorations 
in   1525  ;  but  in  1526  he  went  again  with  greater  preparations,  and 
made  his  landfall  a  little  farther  north,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wateree 
River,  which  he  called  the  Jordan,  and  sailed  on  to  the  Chesapeake, 


THE  AYLLON  MAP. 


where,  with  the  help  of  negro  slaves,  then  first  introduced  into  this  re 
gion,  he  began  the  building  of  a  town  at  or  near  the  spot  Spati}ard8  ir 
where  the  English  in  the  next  century  founded  Jamestown  ;  Virginia. 
or  at  least  this  is  the  conjecture  of  Dr.  Shea.  Here  Ayllon  died  of  a 
pestilential  fever  October  18,  1526,  when  the  disheartened  colonists, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  out  of  the  original  five  hundred,  returned  to 
Santo  Domingo. 

While   these    unfortunate    experiences   were    in   progress,  Estevan 
Gomez,  sent  by  the  Spanish  government,  after  the  close  of    1524 
the  conference  at  Badajos,  to  make  sure  that  there  was  no    Gomez. 
passage  to  the  Moluccas  anywhere  along  this  Atlantic  coast,  started  in 
the  autumn  of  1524,  if  the  data  we  have  admit  of  that  conclusion  as 
to  the  time,  from  Corunna,  in  the  north  of  Spain.     He  proceeded  at 
once,  as  Charles  V.  had  directed  him,  to  the  Baccalaos  region,  striking 
the  mainland  possibly  at  Labrador,  and  then  turned  south,  carefully 
examining  all  inlets.     We  have  no  authoritative  narrative  sanctioned 
by  his  name,  or  by  that  of  any  one  accompanying  the  expe-   Chaves>8 
dition  ;  nor  has  the  map  which  Alonso  Chaves  made  to  con-   "^P- 


562  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

form  to  what  was  reported  by  Gomez  been  preserved,  but  the  essen 
tial  features  of  the  exploration  are  apparently  embodied  in  the  great 
1529  Ri-  maP  °^  Ribero  (1529),  and  we  have  sundry  stray  references 
bero's  map.  jn  the  later  chroniclers.  From  all  this  it  would  seem  that 
Gomez  followed  the  coast  southward  to  the  point  of  Florida,  and 
made  it  certain  to  most  minds  that  no  such  passage  to  India  existed^ 
though  there  was  a  lingering  suspicion  that  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 
had  not  been  sufficiently  explored. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  the  southern  shores  of  the  Caribbean  Sea.  New 
efforts  at  colonizing  here  were  undertaken  in  1508-9.  By 
the  Carib-  this  time  the  coast  had  been  pretty  carefully  made  out  as 
far  as  Honduras,  largely  through  the  explorations  of  Ojeda 
and  Juan  de  la  Cosa.  The  scheme  was  a  dual  one,  and  introduces  us 
to  two  new  designations  of  the  regions  separated  by  that  indentation 
Ojeda  and  °^  tne  coast  known  as  the  Gulf  of  Uraba.  Here  Ojeda  and 
Nicuessa.  Nicuessa  were  sent  to  organize  governments,  and  rule  their 
respective  provinces  of  Nueva  Andalusia  and  Castilla  del  Oro  for  the 
period  of  four  years.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of  this  in  the 
preceding  chapter.  They  delayed  getting  to  their  governments,  quar 
reled  for  a  while  about  their  bounds  on  each  other,  fought  the  natives 
with  desperation  but  not  with  much  profit,  lost  La  Cosa  in  one  of  the 
encounters,  and  were  thwarted  in  their  purpose  of  holding  Jamaica  a& 
a  granary  and  in  getting  settlers  from  Espanola  by  the  alertness  of 
Diego  Colon,  who  preferred  to  be  tributary  to  no  one. 

All  this  had  driven  Ojeda  to  great  stress  in  the  little  colony  of  San 
Sebastian  which  he  had  founded.  He  attempted  to  return  for  aid  to 
Espanola,  and  was  wrecked  on  the  voyage.  This  caused  him  to  miss 
his  lieutenant  Enciso,  who  was  on  his  way  to  him  with  recruits.  So 
Ojeda  passes  out  of  history,  except  so  far  as  he  tells  his  story  in  the  tes 
timony  he  gave  in  the  suit  of  the  heirs  of  Columbus  in  1513-15. 
New  heroes  were  coming  on.  A  certain  Pizarro  had  been  left  in 
command  by  Ojeda,  —  not  many  years  afterwards  to  be 
heard  of.  One  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa,  a  poor  and  debt- 
burdened  fugitive,  was  on  board  of  Enciso's  ship,  and  had  wit  enough 
to  suggest  that  a  region  like  San  Sebastian,  inhabited  by  tribes  which 
used  poisoned  arrows,  was  not  the  place  for  a  colony  struggling  for 
existence  and  dependent  on  foraging.  So  they  removed  the  remnants 
of  the  colony,  which  Enciso  had  turned  back  as  they  were  escaping,  to 
the  other  side  of  the  bay,  and  in  this  way  the  new  settlement  came 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  Nicuessa,  whom  a  combination  soon  deposed 
and  shipped  to  sea,  never  to  be  heard  of.  It  was  in  these  commotions 
that  Vasco  Nunez  de  Balboa  brought  himself  into  a  prominence  that 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


563 


ended  in  his  being  commissioned  by  Diego  Colon  as  governor  of  the 
new  colony.:  He  had,  meanwhile,  got  more  knowledge  of  a  great  sea 
at  the  westward  than  Columbus  had  acquired  on  the  coast  of  Veragua 


El     Adc l^tado  BAS CO  NUNE S"  eft 
3c  ere  f  "  qut    dtf-cubrio.  la  mar  ckl 

BALBOA.     [From  Barcia's  Jferrera."] 

in  1503.  Balboa  rightly  divined  that  its  discovery,  if  he  could  effect 
it,  would  serve  him  a  good  purpose  in  quieting  any  jealousies  of  his 
rule,  of  which  he  was  beginning  to  observe  symptoms.  So  on  the  1st 
of  September,  1 513,  he  set  out  in  the  direction  which  the  natives  had 
indicated,  and  by  the  24th  he  had  reached  a  mountain  from  the  top 


564  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS, 

of  which  his  guides  told  him  he  would  behold  the  sea.  On  the 
25th  his  party  ascended,  himself  in  front,  and  it  was  not 
boa  and  the  long  before  he  stood  gazing  upon  the  distant  ocean,  the  first 
nth  Sea.  Q£  Europeans  to  discern  the  long-coveted  sea.  Down  the 
other  slope  the  Spaniards  went.  The  path  was  a  difficult  one,  and  it 
was  three  days  before  one  of  his  advanced  squads  reached  the  beach. 
Not  till  the  next  day,  the  29th,  did  Vasco  Nunez  himself  join  those  in 
advance,  when,  striding  into  the  tide,  he  took  possession  of  the  sea 
and  its  bordering  lands  in  the  name  of  his  sovereigns.  It  was  on  Saint 
Miguel's  Day,  and  the  Bay  of  Saint  Miguel  marks  the  spot  to-day. 
Towards  the  end  of  January,  1514,  he  was  again  with  the  colony  at 
Antigua  del  Darien.  Thence,  in  March,  he  dispatched  a  messenger 
to  Spain  with  news  of  the  great  discovery. 

This  courier  did  not  reach  Europe  till  after  a  new  expedition  had 
been  dispatched  under  Pedrarias,  and  with  him  went  a 
number  of  followers,  who  did  in  due  time  their  part  in  thrid- 
ding  and  designating  these  new  paths  of  exploration.  We  recognize 
among  them  Hernando  de  Soto,  Bernal  Diaz,  the  chronicler  of  the  ex 
ploits  of  Cortes,  and  Oviedo,  the  historian.  It  was  from  April  till 
June,  1514,  that  Pedrarias  was  on  his  way,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
the  new  governor  with  his  imposing  array  of  strength  brought  the  re 
cusant  Balboa  to  trial,  out  of  which  he  emerged  burdened  with  heavy 
fines.  The  new  governor  planned  at  once  to  reap  the  fruits  of  Bal 
boa's  discovery.  An  expedition  was  sent  along  his  track,  which  em 
barked  on  the  new  sea  and  gathered  spoils  where  it  could.  Pedrarias 
soon  grew  jealous  of  Balboa,  for  it  was  not  without  justice  that  the 
state  of  the  augmented  colony  was  held  to  compare  unfavorably  with 
the  conditions  which  Balboa  had  maintained  during  his  rule.  But  con 
stancy  was  never  of  much  prevalence  in  these  days,  and  Balboa's  chains, 
lately  imposed,  were  stricken  off  to  give  him  charge  of  an  exploration 
of  the  sea  which  he  had  discovered.  Once  here,  Balboa  planned  new 
conquests  and  a  new  independency.  Pedrarias,  hearing  of  it  through 
a  false  friend  of  Balboa,  enticed  the  latter  into  his  neigh- 

1517.    Bal-        .       .         _  i.iii. 

boa  exe-         borhood,  and  a  trial  was  soon  set  on  toot,  which  ended  in 
the  execution  of   Balboa  and  his   abettors.     This  was    in 
1517. 

It  was  not  long  before  Pedrarias  removed  his  capital  to  Panama, 
and  in  1519  and  during  the  few  following  years  his  captains  pushed 
their  explorations  northerly  along  the  shores  of  the  South  Sea,  as  the 
new  ocean  had  been  at  once  called. 

As   early  as   1515  Pizarro  and  Morales  had  wandered  down  the 
coast  southward  to  a  region  called  Biru  by  the  natives,  and 

1515.     Biru.       .  .  ,  •       i      i 

this  was  as  far  as  adventure  had  carried  any  Spaniard,  dur- 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  565 

ing  the  ten  years  since  Balboa's  discovery.  They  had  learned  here  of 
a  rich  region  farther  on,  and  it  got  to  be  spoken  of  by  the  same  name, 
or  by  a  perversion  of  it,  as  Peru.  In  this  interval  the  town  1519  Pana 
of  Panama  had  been  founded  (1519),  and  Pizarro  and  ma  founded. 
Almagro,  with  the  priest  Luque,  were  among  those  to  whom  allot 
ments  were  made. 

It  was  by  these  three  associates,  in  1524  and  1526,  that  the  expedi 
tions  were  organized  which  led  to  the  exploration  of  the 
coasts  of  Peru  and  the  conquest  of  the  region.     The  equa 
tor  was  crossed  in  1526 ;  in  1527  they  reached  9°  south.     It  was  not 
till  1535  that,  in  the  progress  of  events,  a  knowledge  of  the  coast  was 
extended  south  to  the  neighborhood  of  Lima,  which  was  founded  in 
that  year.     In  the  autumn  of  1535,  Almagro  started  south 
to  make  conquest  of  Chili,  and  the  bay  of  Valparaiso  was 
occupied  in  September,  1536.    Eight  years  later,  in  1544,  explorations 
were   pushed  south  to  41°.     It  was   only  in  1557  that  expeditions 
reached  the  archipelago  of  Chiloe,  and  the  whole  coast  of 
South  America  on  the  Pacific  was  made  out  with  some  de 
tail  down  to  the  region  which  Magellan  had  skirted,  as  will  be  shortly 
shown. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  1503  Columbus  had  struck  the  coast 
of  Honduras  west  of  Cape  Gracias  k  Dios.     He  learned  then  of  lands 
to  the  northwest  from  some  Indians  whom  he  met  in  a  canoe,  but  his 
eagerness  to  find  the  strait  of  his  dreams  led  him  south.     It  was  four 
teen  years  before  the  promise  of  that  canoe  was  revealed. 
In  1508  Ocampo  had  found  the  western  extremity  of  Cuba,    Ocampo 
and  made  the  oath  of  Columbus  ridiculous. 

In  1517  a  slave-hunting  expedition,  having  steered  towards  the  west 
from  Cuba,  discovered  the  shores  of  Yucatan  ;  and  the  next   1517    Yu_ 
year  (1518)  the  real  exploration  of  that  region  began  when    catan- 
Juan  de  Grijalva,  a  nephew  of  the  governor  of  Cuba,  led  thither  an 
expedition  which  explored  the  coast  of  Yucatan  and  Mexico. 

When  Grijalva  returned  to  Cuba  in  1518,  it  was  to  find  an  expedi 
tion  already  planned  to  follow  up  his  discoveries,  and  Her-   1518 
nando  Cortes,  who  had  been  in  the  New  World  since  1504,    Cortes. 
had  been  chosen  to  lead  it,  with  instructions  to  make  further  explora 
tions  of  the  coast,  —  a  purpose  very  soon  to  become  obscured  in  other 
objects.     He  sailed  on  the  17th  of  November,  and  stopped  along  the 
coast  of  Cuba  for  recruits,  so  it  was  not  till  February  18, 
1519,  that  he  sunk  the  shores  of  Cuba  behind  him,  and  in 
March  he  was  skirting  the  Yucatan  shore  and  sailed  on  to  San  Juan 
de  Uloa.    In  due  time,  forgetting  his  instructions,  and  caring  for  other 


566  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

conquests  than  those  of  discovery,  he  began  his  march  inland.  The 
story  of  the  conquest  of  Mexico  does  not  help  us  in  the  aim  now  in 
view,  and  we  leave  it  untold. 


GRIJALVA.     [From  Barcia's  Herrera.] 

It  was  not  long  after  this  conquest  before  belated  apostles  of  the 

belief  of  Columbus  appeared,  urging  that  the  capital  of  Mon- 

tezuma  was  in  reality  the  Quinsay  of  Marco  Polo,  with  its 

great  commercial  interests,  as  was  maintained  by  SchOner  in  his  Opus- 

culum  Geographicum  in  1533. 

We  have  seen  how  Pineda's  expedition  to  the  northern  parts  of  the 
1520  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  1519  had  improved  the  knowledge  of 

Garay.  ^hat  shore,  and  we  have  a  map  embodying  these  explora 

tions,  which  was  sent  to  Spain  in  1520  by  Garay,  then  governor  of 

* 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  567 

Jamaica.     It  was  now  pretty  clear  that  the  blank  spaces  of  earlier 
maps,  leaving  it  uncertain  if  there  was  a  passage  westerly   Gulf  of 
somewhere  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  gulf,  should  be   Mexlco- 


GLOBE  GIVEN  IN  SCHONER'S   OPUSCULUM  GEOGRAPHIC UM,  1533. 

filled  compactly.     Still,  a  belief  that  such  a  passage  existed  some 
where  in  the  western  contour  of  the  gulf  was  not  readily  abandoned. 
Cortes,  when  he  sent  to  Spain  his  sketch  of  the  gulf,  which 
was  published  there  in  1524,  was  dwelling  on  the  hope  that  te8'sGui?rof 
some  such  channel  existed  near  Yucatan,  and  his  insular   Mexico> 


568 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


delineation  of  that  peninsula,  with*  a  shadowy  strait  at  its  base,  was 
eagerly  grasped  by  the  cartographers.  Such  a  severance  finds  a 
place  in  the  map  of  Maiollo  of  1527,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Am- 
brosian  library  at  Milan.  Grijalva,  some  years  earlier,  had  been 
Yucatan  as  sent'  as  we  nave  seen>  to  sa^  roun^  Yucatan ;  and  though 
an  island.  there  are  various  theories  about  the  origin  of  that  name,  it 
seems  likely  enough  that  the  tendency  t'o  give  it  an  insular  form  arose 
from  a  misconception  of  the  Indian  appellation.  At  all  events,  the 
island  of  Yucatan  lingered  long  in  the  early  maps. 


TlERflA 


GULP  OP  MEXICO,  1520. 


In  1523  Cortes  had  sent  expeditions  up  the  Pacific,  and  one  up  the 
Atlantic  side  of  North  America,  to  find  the  wished-for  pas- 


1523. 

Cortes. 


Meanwhile,  important  movements  were  making  by  the  Portuguese 
beyond  that  great  sea  of  the  south  which  Balboa  had  dis- 

Spanishand  ...•«.  i    i          i 

Portuguese     covered.     Inese  movements  were  little  suspected   by  the 
Spaniards  till  the  development  of  them  brought  into  con 
tact  these  two  great  oceanic  rivals. 

The  Portuguese,  year  after  year,  had  extended  farther  and  farther 
their  conquests  by  the  African  route.     Arabia,  India,  Malacca,  Suma- 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


569 


tra,  fell  under  their  sway,  and  their  course  was  still  eastward,  until  in 
1511  the  -coveted  land  of  spices,  the  clove  and  the  nutmeg,    1511    Mo_ 
was  reached  in  the  Molucca  Islands.     This  progress  of  the   luccas. 
Portuguese  had  been  watched  with  a  jealous  eye  by  Spain.     It  was  a 
question  if,  in  passing  to  these  islands,  the  Portuguese  had  not  crossed 
the  line  of  demarcation   as  carried  to  the  antipodes.     If  they  had, 
territory  neighboring  to  the  Spanish  American  discoveries  had  been 


« 


GULF  OF  MEXICO,  BY  CORTES. 

appropriated  by  that  rival  power  wholly  unconfronted.      This  was 
simply  because  the  Spanish  navigators  had  not  as  yet  succeeded   in 
finding  a  passage  through  the  opposing  barrier  of  what  they  were  be 
ginning  to  suspect  was  after  all  an  intervening  land.     Meanwhile,  Co 
lumbus  and  all  since  his  day  having  failed  to  find  such  a  passage  by 
way  of  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  no  one  yet  discovering  any  A  western 
at  the  north,  nothing  was  left  but  to  seek  it  at  the  south.   sougMat 
This  was  the  only  chance  of  contesting  with  the  Portuguese   the  80uth- 
the  rights  which  occupation  was  establishing  for  them  at  the  Moluccas. 


570 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


On  the  29th  of  June,  1508,  a  new  expedition  left  San  Lucar  under 
Pinzon  and  Solis.  They  made  their  landfall  near  Cape  St. 

zon  and  Augustine,  and,  passing  south  along  the  coast  of  what  had 
now  come  to  be  commonly  called  Brazil,  they  traversed  the 

opening  of  the  broad  estuary  of  the  La  Plata  without  knowing  it,  and 


MAIOLLO  MAP,  1527. 

went  five   degrees  beyond    (40°  south  latitude)  without  finding  the 
sought-for  passage. 

There  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  as  early  as  1511  the  Portu 
guese  had  become  in  some  degree  familiar  with  the  coast 

1  'VM      "Pnrfri 

guese  at  Rio   about  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  there  is  a  story  of  one  Juan  de 
Braza  settling  near  this  striking  bay  at  this  early  day.     It 


de  Janeiro. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


571 


was  during  the  same  year  (1511)  that  Ferdinand  Columbus 
prepared  his   Colon  de   Concordia,  and  in  this  he  main-   Columbus 
tained  the  theory  of  a  passage  to  be  found  somewhere  be-  western  Pa«- 
yond  the  point  towards  the  south  which  the  explorers  had  "^ 
thus  far  reached. 


DE  COSTA'S  DRAWING  FROM  THE  LENOX  GLOBE. 


A  few  years  later  (1516)  the  Spanish  King  sent  Juan  Diaz  de  Solis 
to  search  anew  for  a  passage.     He  found  the  La  Plata,  and 
for  a  while  hoped  he  had  discovered  the  looked-for  strait. 
Magellan,  who   had  taken  some  umbrage  during  his  Portuguese  ser 
vice,  came  finally  to  the  Spanish  King,  and,  on  the  plea  that  the  Moluc- 


572 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


cas  fell  within  the  Spanish  range  under  the  line  of  demarcation,  sug- 
1519  Ma-  gested  an  expedition  to  occupy  them.  He  professed  to  be  able 
geiian  to  reach  them  by  a  strait  which  he  could  find  somewhere  to 

the  south  of  the  La  Plata.     It  has  long  been  a  question  if  Magellan's 


SCHONER'S  GLOBE,  1520. 


anticipation  was  based  simply  on  a  conjecture  that,  as  Africa  had  been 
found  to  end  in  a  southern  point,  America  would  likewise  be  discovered 
to  have  a  similar  southern  cape.  It  has  also  been  a  question  if  Ma 
gellan  actually  had  any  tidings  from  earlier  voyages  to  afford  a  ground 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


573 


for  believing  in  such  a  geographical  fact.  It  is  possible  that  other 
early  discoverers  had  been  less  careful  than  Solis,  and  had  been  misled 
by  the  broad  estuary  of  the  La  Plata  to  think  that  it  was  really  an  in- 
teroceanic  passage.  Some  such  intelligence  would  seem  to  have  insti 
gated  the  conditions  portrayed  in  one  early  map,  but  the  general 
notion  of  cartographers  at  the  time  terminates  the  known  coast  at  Cape 


MAGELLAN. 

Frio,  near  Rio  de  Janeiro,  as  is  seen  to  be  the  case  in  the  Ptolemy  map 
of  1513.  There  is  a  story,  originating  with  Pigafetta,  his  historian, 
that  Magellan  had  seen  a  map  of  Martin  Behaim,  showing  a  southern 
cape ;  but  if  this  map  existed,  it  revealed  probably  nothing  more 
than  a  conjectural  termination,  as  shown  in  the  Lenox  and  earliest 
Schoner  globes  of  1515  and  1520.  Still,  Wieser  and  Nordenskiold 
are  far  from  being  confident  that  some  definite  knowledge  of  such  a 
cape  had  not  been  attained,  probably,  as  it  is  thought,  from  private 
commercial  voyage  of  which  we  may  have  a  record  in  the  Neice  Zei- 


574  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

tung  and  in  the  Luculentissima  Descriptio.  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
the  fact,  whatever  it  may  have  been,  must  remain  shadowy. 

Magellan's  fleet  was  ready  in  August,  1519.  His  preparation  had 
been  watched  with  jealousy  by  Portugal,  and  it  was  even  hinted  that 
if  the  expedition  sailed  a  matrimonial  alliance  of  Spain  and  Portugal 
which  was  contemplated  must  be  broken  off.  Magellan  was  appealed 
to  by  the  Portuguese  ambassador  to  abandon  his  purpose,  as  one  likely 
to  embroil  the  two  countries.  The  stubborn  navigator  was  not  to  be 
persuaded,  and  the  Spanish  King  made  him  governor  of  all  countries 
he  might  discover  on  the  "  back  side  "  of  the  New  World. 

In  the  late  days  of  1519,  Magellan  touched  the  coast  at  Rio  de  Ja 
neiro,  where,  remaining  awhile,  he  enjoyed  the  fruits  of  its  equable 
climate.  Then,  passing  on,  he  crossed  the  mouth  of  the  La  Plata,  and 
soon  found  that  he  had  reached  a  colder  climate  and  was  sailing  along 
a  different  coast.  The  verdure  which  had  followed  the  warm  currents 
from  the  equatorial  north  gave  way  to  the  concomitants  of  an  icy  flow 
from  the  Antarctic  regions  which  made  the  landscape  sterile.  So  on 
he  went  along  this  inhospitable  region,  seeking  the  expected  strait. 
His  search  in  every  inlet  was  so  faithful  that  he  neared  the  southern 
goal  but  slowly.  The  sternness  of  winter  caught  his  little  barks  in  a 
harbor  near  50°  south  latitude,  and  his  Spanish  crews,  restless  under 
the  command  of  a  Portuguese,  revolted.  The  rebels  were  soon  more 
numerous  than  the  faithful.  The  position  was  more  threatening  than 
any  Columbus  had  encountered,  but  the  Portuguese  had  a  hardy  cour 
age  and  majesty  of  command  that  the  Genoese  never  could  summon. 
Magellan  confronted  the  rebels  so  boldly  that  they  soon  quailed.  He 
was  in  unquestioned  command  of  his  own  vessels  from  that  time  for 
ward.  The  fate  of  the  conquered  rioters,  Juan  de  Carthagena  and 
Sanchez  de  la  Reina,  cast  on  the  inhospitable  shore  of  Patagonia  in 
expiation  of  their  offense,  is  in  strong  contrast  to  the  easy  victory 
which  Columbus  too  often  yielded  to  those  who  questioned  his  author 
ity.  The  story  of  Magellan's  pushing  his  fleet  southward  and  through 
the  strait  with  a  reluctant  crew  is  that  of  one  of  the  royally  courageous 
acts  of  the  age  of  discovery. 

On  October  21,  1520,  the  ships  entered  the  longed-for  strait,  and  on 
1520,  Octo-  *ne  28th  of  November  they  sailed  into  the  new  sea ;  then 
ten'entSfel~  stretching  their  course  nearly  north,  keeping  well  in  sight  of 
the  strait.  the  coast  till  the  Chiloe  Archipelago  was  passed,  the  ships 
steered  west  of  Juan  Fernandez  without  seeing  it,  and  subsequently 
gradually  turned  their  prows  towards  the  west. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  our  present  purpose  to  follow  the  incidents  of 
the  rest  of  this  wondrous  voyage,  —  the  reaching  the  Ladrones  and  the 
Asiatic  islands,  Magellan's  own  life  sacrificed,  all  his  ships  but  one 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


575 


'&iMi{Caf0  d**»&  **  ™ 


MAGELLAN  S   STRAITS   BY    PIZAFETTA. 
[The  north  is  at  the  bottom.] 


576 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


abandoned  or  lost,  the  passing*  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by  the  "  Vic 
toria,"  and  her  arrival  on  September  6,  1522,  under  Del  Cano,  at  the 
Spanish  harbor  from  which  the  fleet  had  sailed.    The  Emperor  bestowed 
on  this  lucky  first  of  circumnavigators  the  proud  motto,  in- 
way  dis-         scribed  on  a  globe,  "  Primus  circumdedisti  me."  The  Span 
iards'  western  way  to  the  Moluccas  was  now  disclosed. 
The  South  Sea  of  Balboa,  as  soon  as  Magellan  had  established  its 
Pacific  extension  farther  south,  took  from  Magellan's  company  the 

Ocean.  name  Pacific,  though  the  original  name  which  Balboa  had 


MAGELLAN'S  STRAIT. 

applied  to  it  did  not  entirely  go  out  of  vogue  for  a  long  time  in  those 
portions  contiguous  to  the  waters  bounding  the  isthmus  and  its  adja 
cent  lands. 

For  a  long  time  after  it  was  known  that  South  America  was  severed, 
North  Amer-  as  Magellan  proved,  from  Asia,  the  belief  was  still  com- 
h3d  to 48ia  monly  held  that  North  America  and  Asia  were  one  and  con- 
one-  tinuous.  While  no  one  ventures  to  suspect  that  Columbus 

had  any  prescience  of  these  later  developments,  there  are  those  like 
Varnhagen  who  claim  a  distinct  insight  for  Vespucius  ;  but  it  is  by  no 
means  clear,  in  the  passages  which  are  cited,  that  Vespucius  thought 
the  continental  mass  of  South  America  more  distinct  from  Asia  than 
Columbus  did,  when  the  volume  of  water  poured  out  by  the  Orinoco 
convinced  the  Admiral  that  he  was  skirting  a  continent,  and  not  an  isl 
and.  That  Columbus  thought  to  place  there  the  region  of  the  Biblical 
paradise  shows  that  its  continental  features  did  not  dissociate  it  from 
Asia.  The  New  World  of  Vespucius  was  established  by  his  own  testi 
mony  as  hardly  more  than  a  new  part  of  Asia. 

In  1525  Loyasa  was  sent  to  make  further  examination  of  Magellan's 
1525.  Strait.  It  was  at  this  time  that  one  of  his  ships,  com- 

Loyasa.  manded  by  Francisco  de  Hoces,  was  driven  south  in  Febru- 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  577 

ary,  1526,  and  discovered  Cape  Horn,  rendering  the  insular  character 
of  Tierra  del  Fuego  all  but  certain.      The  fact  was  kept 
secret,  and  the  map-makers  were  not  generally  made  aware   discovers 
of  this  terminal  cape  till  Drake  saw  it,  fifty-two  years  later.    Cape  ] 
It  was  not  till  1615—17  that  Schouten  and  Lemaire  made  clear  the 
eastern  limits  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  when  they  discovered  the  passage 
between  that  island  and  Staten  Island,  and  during  the  same  interval 
Schouten  doubled  Cape  Horn  for  the  first  time.     It  was  in  1618-19 
that  the  observations  of  Nodal  first  gave  the  easterly  bend  to  the  south 
ern  extremity  of  the  continent. 

The  last  stretch  of  the  main  coast  of  South  America  to  be  made  out 
was  that  on  the  Pacific  side  from  the  point  where  Magellan  turned 
away  from  it  up  to  the  bounds  of  Peru,  where  Pizarro  and  his  follow 
ers  had  mapped  it.  This  trend  of  the  coast  began  to  be  understood 
about  1535  ;  but  it  was  some  years  before  its  details  got 

rri^       £.         1     J     XI      •*.'  £     V  £  rt  9         1535'       ChilL 

into  maps.  Ihe  final  definition  ot  it  came  from  Camargo  s 
voyage  in  1540,  and  was  first  embodied  with  something  like  accuracy 
in  Juan  Freire's  map  of  1546,  and  was  later  helped  by  explorations 
from  the  north.  But  this  proximate  precision  gave  way  in  1569  to  a 
protuberant  angle  of  the  Chili  coast,  as  drawn  by  Mercator,  which  in 
turn  lingered  on  the  chart  till  the  next  century. 

We  need  now  to  turn  from  these  records  of  the  voyagers  to  see 
what  impression  their  discoveries  had  been  making  upon  Cartograph. 
the  cartographers  and  geographers  of  Europe.  ical  views. 

Bernardus  Sylvanus  Ebolensis,  in  a  new  edition  of  Ptolemy  which 
was  issued  at  Venice  in  1511,  paid  great  attention  to  the 

i        ti.  i  >      j          •    *.-  Sylvanus's 

changes  necessary    to  make    Ptolemy  s   descriptions  corre-   Ptolemy. 
spond  to  later  explorations  in  the  Old  World,  but  less  atten 
tion  to  the  more  important  developments  of  the  New  World.     Nor- 
denskiold  thinks  that  this  condition  of   Sylvanus's  mind  shows  how 
little  had  been  the  impression  yet  made  at  Venice  by  the  discoveries 
of  Columbus  and  Da  Gama.      The  maps  of  this  Ptolemy  are  wood 
cuts,  with  type  let  in  for  the  names,  which  are  printed  in  red,  in  con 
trast  with  the  black  impressed  from  the  block. 

Sylvanus's  map  is  the  second  engraved  map  showing  the  new  dis 
coveries,  and  the  earliest  of  the  heart-shaped  projections.  It  has  in  "  Re- 
galis  Domus  "  the  earliest  allusion  to  the  Cortereal  voyage  in  a  printed 
map.  Sylvanus  follows  Ruysch  in  making  Greenland  a  part  of  Asia. 
The  rude  map  gores  of  about  the  same  date  which  Norden-  Norden. 
skiold  has  brought  to  the  attention  of  scholars,  and  which  8ki61d  g°res- 
he  considers  to  have  been  made  at  Ingolstadt,  agree  mainly  with  this 
map  of  Sylvanus,  and  iix  respect  to  the  western  world  both  of  these 


578 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


maps,  as  well  as  the  Schimer  globe  of  1515,  seem  to  have  been  based 
on  much  the  same  material. 

We  find  in  1512,  where  we  might  least  expect  it,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  of  the  early  maps,  which  was  made  for  an  introduction 
1512  stob-  *°  Ptolemy>  published  at  this  date  at  Cracow,  in  Poland, 
niczamap.  by  Stobnicza.  This  cartographer  was  the  earliest  to  in- 


FREIRE'S  MAP,  1546. 


troduce  into  the  plane  delineation  of  the  globe  the  now  palpable  divi 
sion  of  its  surface  into  an  eastern  and  western  hemisphere.  His 
map,  for  some  reason,  is  rarely  found  in  the  book  to  which  it  be 
longs.  Nordenskiold  says  he  has  examined  many  copies  of  the  book 
in  the  libraries  of  Scandinavia,  Russia,  and  Poland,  without  finding  a 
copy  with  it  ;  but  it  is  found  in  other  copies  in  the  great  libraries  at 
Vienna  and  Munich.  He  thinks  the  map  may  have  been  excluded 


FAVO 


NIVS 


OCC1DENS 


SYLV ANUS'S   PTOLEMY  OF  1511. 


580  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


STOBNICZA'S   MAP. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  581 

from  most  of  the  editions  because  of  its  rudeness,  or  "  on  account  of 
its  being  contrary  to  the  old  doctrines  of  the  Church."  Its  importance 
in  the  growth  of  the  ideas  respecting  the  new  discoveries  in  the  west 
ern  hemisphere  is,  however,  very  great,  since  for  the  first  time  it  gives 
a  north  and  south  continent  connected  by  an  isthmus,  and  represents 
as  never  before  in  an  engraved  map  the  western  hemisphere  as  an  en 
tirety.  This  is  remarkable,  as  it  was  published  a  year  before  Balboa 
made  his  discovery  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is  not  difficult  to  see 
the  truth  of  Nordenskiold's  statement  that  the  map  divides  the  waters 
of  the  globe  into  two  almost  equal  oceans,  "  communicating  only  in  the 
extreme  south  and  in  the  extreme  north,"  but  the  south  communica 
tion  which  is  unmistakable  is  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  ex 
tremity  of  South  America  is  not  reached  because  of  the  marginal  scale, 
and  because  of  the  same  scale  it  is  not  apparent  that  there  is  any  con 
nection  between  the  Pacific  and  Indian  oceans,  and  for  similar  reasons 
connection  is  not  always  clear  at  the  north.  There  must  have  been  in 
formation  at  hand  to  the  maker  of  this  map  of  which  modern  scholars 
can  find  no  other  trace,  or  else  there  was  a  wild  speculative  spirit 
which  directed  the  pencil  in  some  singular  though  crude  correspond 
ence  to  actual  fact.  This  is  apparent  in  its  straight  conjectural  lines 
on  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  which  prefigure  the  discoveries 
following  upon  the  enterprise  of  Balboa  and  the  voyage  of  Magellan. 

If  Stobnicza,  apparently,  had  not  dared  to  carry  the  southern  ex 
tremity  of  South  America  to  a  point,  there  had  been  no  such  hesitancy 
in  the  makers  of  two  globes  of  about  the  same  date,  —  the  little  copper 
sphere  picked  up  by  Richard  M.  Hunt,  the  architect,  in  an    The  Lenox 
old  shop  in  Paris,  and  now  in  the  Lenox  Library  in  New   slobe- 
York,  and  the  rude  sketch,  giving  quartered  hemispheres  separated  on 
the  line  of  the  equator,  which  is  preserved  in   the  cabinet  of  Queen 
Victoria,   at  Windsor,  among  the   papers  of   Leonardo  da   DaVinci 
Vinci.     This  little  draft  has  a  singular  interest  both  from    8lobe- 
its  association  with  so  great  a  name  as  Da  Vinci's,  and  because  it  bears 
at  what  is,  perhaps,  the  earliest  date  to  be  connected  with  such  carto 
graphical   use   the    name   America    lettered    on    the   South   American 
continent.     Major  has  contended  for  its  being  the  work  of  Da  Vinci 
himself,  but  Nordenskiold  demurs.    This  Swedish  geographer  is  rather 
inclined  to  think  it  the  work  of  a  not  very  well  informed  copier  work 
ing  on  some  Portuguese  prototype. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  in  the  same  year  with  the  discovery  of 
the  South  Sea  by  Balboa,  an  edition  of  Ptolemy  made  popular  a  map 
which  had  indeed  been  cut  in  its  fi*st  state  as  early  as  1507,  but  which 
still  preserved  the  contiguity  of  the  Antilles  to  the  region  of  the 
Ganges  and  its  three  mouths.  This  was  the  well-known  "  Admiral's 


582 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


map,"  usually  associated  with  the  name  of  Waldseemiiller,  and  if  this 
same  cartographer,  as  Franz  Wieser  conjectures,  is  respon 
sible  for  the  map  in  Reisch's  Margarita  philosophica 
(1515),  a  sort  of  cyclopaedia,  he  had  in  the  interim  awaked 

to  the  significance  of  the  discovery  of  Balboa,  for  the  Ganges  has  dis 
appeared,  and  Cipango  is  made  to  lie  in  an  ocean  beyond 

Reisch's  the  continental  Zoana  Mela  (America),  which  has  an  unde 
fined  western  limit,  as  it  had  already  been  depicted  in  the 

Stobnicza  map  of  1512. 


1507-13. 

Admiral's 

map. 


THE  ALLEGED   DA  VINCI  SKETCH. 

[  Combination .  ] 

It  was  in  this  Strassburg  Ptolemy  of  1513  that  Ringmann,  who  had 
been  concerned  in  inventing  the  name  of  America,  revised  the  Latin 
of  Angelus,  using  a  Greek  manuscript  of  Ptolemy  for  the  purpose. 
First  mod-  Nordenskiold  speaks  of  this  edition  as  the  first  modern  atlas 
em  atlas.  of  the  WOrld,  extended  so  as  to  give  in  two  of  its  maps  — 
that  known  as  the  "  Admiral's  map,"  and  another  of  Africa  —  the 
results  following  upon  the  discoveries  of  Columbus  and  Da  Gama. 
This  "  Admiral's  map,"  which  has  been  so  often  associated  with  Co 
lumbus,  is  hardly  a  fair  representation  of  the  knowledge  that  Colum 
bus  had  attained,  and  seems  rather  to  be  the  embodiment  of  the  dis 
coveries  of  many,  as  the  description  of  it,  indeed,  would  leave  us  to 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


583 


infer ;  while  the  other  American  chart  of  the  volume  is  clearly  of 
Portuguese  rather  than  of  Spanish  origin,  as  may  be  inferred  by  the 
lavish  display  of  the  coast  connected  with  the  descriptions  by  Vespu- 


TYPVSVNTVERSA&S  TERREIVXTAMO 


TAKASEV 
PHSII1A 


REISCH,   1515. 

cius.  On  the  other  hand,  nothing  but  the  islands  of  Espanola  and 
Cuba  stand  in  it  for  the  explorations  of  Columbus.  Both  of  these 
maps  are  given  elsewhere  in  this  Appendix. 

We  could  hardly  expect,  indeed,  to  find  in  these  maps  of  the  Ptolemy 


584 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


of  1513  the  results  of  Balboa's  discovery  at  the  isthmus  ;  but  that  the 
maps  were  left  to  do  service  in  the  edition  of  1520  indicates  that  the 
discovery  of  the  South  Sea  had  by  no  means  unsettled  the  public 
mind  as  to  the  Asiatic  connection  of  the  regions  both  north  and  south 


Asiatic  con-  of  the  Antilles.  Within  the  next  few  years  several  maps 
North"  °f  indicate  the  enduring  strength  of  this  conviction.  A  Por- 
America.  tuguese  portolano  of  1516-20,  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Mu 
nich,  shows  Moslem  flags  on  the  coasts  of  Venezuela  and  Nicaragua. 
A  map  of  Ayllon's  discoveries  on  the  Atlantic  coast  in  1520,  pre- 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  585 

served  in  the  British  Museum,  has  a  Chinaman  and  an  elephant  delin 
eated  on  the  empty  spaces  of  the  continent.  Still,  geographical  opin 
ions  had  become  divided,  and  the  independent  continental  masses  of 
Stobnicza  were  having  some  ready  advocates. 

IOACHIMVS  VADTANVS  MEDI* 
cus;&P.oeta» 


LX 

VADIANUS. 


There  was  at  this  time  a  circle  of  geographers  working  at  Vienna, 
reediting  the  ancient  cosmographers,  and  bringing  them  into   Vienna  ge- 
relations  with  the  new  results  of  discovery.     Two  of  these    ographers. 


586 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


early  writers  thus  attracting  attention  were  Pomponius  Mela,  whose 
Pomponius  Cosmographia  dated  back  to  the  first  century,  and  Solinus, 
whose  Polyhistor  was  of  the  third.  The  Mela  fell  to  the 
care  of  Joliann  Gamers,  who  published  it  as  De  Situ  Orbis 
at  Vienna  in  1512,  at  the  press  of  Singrein  ;  and  this  was  followed  in 
1518  by  another  issue,  taken  in  hand  by  Joachim  Watt,  better  known 
under  the  Latinized  name  of  Vadianus,  who  had  been  born 
in  Switzerland,  and  who  was  one  of  the  earlier  helpers  in 
popularizing  the  name  of  America.  The  Solinus,  the  care  of  which 


Solinus. 


Vadianus. 


APIANUS.     [From  Reusner's  Icones.~\ 

was  undertaken  by  Gamers,  the  teacher  of  Watt,  was  produced  under 
these  new  auspices  at  the  same  time.  Two  years  later  (1520)  both  of 
1520  these  old  writers  attained  new  currency  while  issued  to- 

Apianus.  gether  and  accompanied  by  a  map  of  Apianus,  —  as  the 
German  Bienewitz  classicized  his  name,  —  in  which  further  iteration 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  587 

was  given  to  the  name  of  America  by  attaching  it  to  the  southern 
continent  of  the  west. 

In  this  map  Apianus,  in  1520,  was  combining  views  of  the  western 
hemisphere,  which  had  within  the  few  antecedent  years  found  advo 
cacy  among  a   new  school  of  cartographers.     These  students  repre 
sented  the  northern  and  southern  continents  as  independent  entities, 
disconnected  at  the  isthmus,  where  Columbus  had  hoped  to 
find  his  strait.     This  is  shown  in  the  earliest  of  the  Schoner   the  isthmus 
globes,  the  three  copies  of  which  known  to  us  are  preserved, 
one  at  Frankfort  and  two  at  Weimar.     It  is  in  the  Luculentissima, 
Descriptio^  which  was  written  to  accompany  this  Schoner   1515 
globe  of   1515,  where  we  find  that  statement  already  re-   Schoner- 
f erred  to,  which  chronicles,  as  Wieser  thinks,  an  earlier  voyage  than 
Magellan's  to  the  southern  strait,  which  separated  the  "  America  "  of 
Vespucius  from  that  great  Antarctic  continent  which  did    Antarctic 
not  entirely  disappear  from  our  maps  till  after  the  voyage    continent, 
of  Cook. 

It  is  a  striking  instance  of  careless  contemporary  observation,  which 
the  student  of  this  early  cartography  has  often  to  confront,  that  while 
Reisch,  in  his   popular   cyclopaedia  of  the    Margarita  Philosophica 
which  he  published  first  in  1503,  gave  not  the  slightest  intimation  of 
the  discoveries  of  Columbus,  he   did  not  much    improve  matters  in 
1515,  when  he  ignored  the  discoveries  of  Balboa,  and   reproduced  in 
the  main  the  so-called  "Admiral's  map  "  of  the  Ptolemy  of  1513.     It 
is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  Reisch  was  in  this  repro-   1515 
duced  map  of  1515  the  first  of  map-makers  to  offer  in  the   Reisch. 
word  u  Prisilia  "  on  the  coast  of  Vespucius  the  prototype  of  the  mod 
ern  Brazil.     It  will  be  remembered  that  Cabral  had  sup 
posed  it  an  island,  and  had  named  it  the  Isla  de  Santa  Cruz. 
The  change  of  name  induced  a  pious  Portuguese  to  believe  it  an  insti 
gation  of    the  devil  to  supplant   the   remembrance  of   the    holy  and 
sacred  wood  of  the  great  martyr  by  the  worldly  wood,  which  was  com 
monly  used  to  give  a  red  color  to  cloth ! 

In  1519,  in  the  Suma  de  Geographia  of  Fernandez  d'Enciso,  pub 
lished  later  at  Seville,  in  1530,  we  have  the  experience  of  one  of 
Ojeda's  companions  in  1509.  This  little  folio,  now  a  scarce  book,  is 
of  interest  as  first  formulating  for  practical  use  some  of  the  Theorieg  of 
new  theories  of  seamanship  as  developed  under  the  long  seamanship, 
voyages  at  this  time  becoming  common.  It  has  also  a  marked  interest 
as  being  the  earliest  book  of  the  Spanish  press  which  had  given  con 
sideration  at  any  length  to  the  new  possessions  of  Spain. 

We  again  find  a  similar  indisposition  to  keep  abreast  of  discovery, 
so  perplexing  to  later  scholars,  in  the  new-cast  edition  of  Ptolemy  in 


588 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


1522,  which  contains  the  well-known  map  of  Laurentius  Frisius.  It 
1522  *s  called  by  Nordenskiold,  in  subjecting  it  to  analysis  in 

Frisius.  njs  Facsimile  Atlas,  "  an  original  work,  but  bad  beyond 
all  criticism,  as  well  from  a  geographical  as  from  a  xylographical  point 
of  view."  One  sees,  indeed,  in  the  maps  of  this  edition,  no  knowledge 
of  the  increase  of  geographical  knowledge  during  later  years.  We 
observe,  too,  that  they  go  back  to  Behaim's  interpretation  of  Marco 


SCHONER. 

Polo's  India,  for  the  eastern  shores  of  Asia.  The  publisher,  Thomas 
Ancuparius,  seems  never  to  have  heard  of  Columbus,  or  at  least  fails 
to  mention  him,  while  he  awards  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  to 
Vespucius.  The  maps,  reduced  in  the  main  from  those  of  the  edition 
of  1513,  were  repeated  in  those  of  1525,  1535,  and  1541,  without 
change  and  from  the  same  blocks. 

The  results  of  the  voyage  of  Magellan  and  Del  Cano   promptly 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  589 

attained  a  more  authentic  record  than  usually  fell  to  the  lot  of  these 
early  ocean  experiences. 

The  company  which  reached  Spain  in  the  "  Victoria  "  went  at  once 
to  Valladolid  to  report  to  the  Emperor,  and  while  there  a  pupil  and 
secretary  of  Peter  Martyr,  then  at  Court,  Maximilianus  Transylvanus 
by  name,  got  from  these  men  the  particulars  of  their  discoveries,  and, 
writing  them  out  in  Latin,  he  sent  the  missive  to  his  father,  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Salzburg,  —  the  young  man  was  a  natural  son  1523  Ma 
of  this  prelate,  —  and  in  some  way  the  narrative  got  into  lan's  voyage 
print  at  Cologne  and  Rome  in  1523. 

Schoner  printed  in  1523  a  little  tract,  De  nuper  .  .  .  repertis  insulis 
ac  regionibus  to  elucidate  a  globe  which  he  had  at  that  time    1523 
constructed.     It  was  published  at  Timiripae,  as  the  imprint   Schoner. 
reads,  which  has  been  identified  by  Coote  as   the   Grecized   form  of 
the  name  of  a  small  village  not  far  from  Bamberg,  where  Schoner  was 
at  that  time  a  parochial  vicar.     When  a  new  set  of  engraved  gores 
were  first  brought  to  light  by  Ludwig  Rosenthal.  in  Munich,    R0senthai 
in  1885,  they  were  considered  by  Wieser,  who  published  an   g°res- 
account  of  them  in  1888,  as  the  lost  globe   of  Schoner.     Stevens,  in 
a  posthumous  book   on  Johann  Schoner,  expressed   a  similar  belief. 
This  was  a  view  which  Stevens's  editor,  C.  H.  Coote,  accepted.     The 
opinion,  however,  is  open  to  question,  and  Nordenskiold  finds  that  the 
Rosenthal  gores  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  lost  globe  of  Schoner,  and 
puts  them  much  later,  as  having  been  printed  at  Nuremberg  about  1540. 

The  voyage  of  Magellan  had  reopened  the  controversy  of  Spain 
with  Portugal,  stayed  but  not  settled  by  the  treaty  of  Tor- 

^  •         *   •»         it       i       Political  as- 

desillas.     JiiStevan  Gomez,  a  recusant  captain  ot  Magellan  s   pectsof  Ma- 
fleet,  who  had   deserted   him  just  as  he  was  entering  the    voyage? 
straits,  had  arrived  in  Spain  May  6,  1521,  and  had  his  own 
way  for  some   time  in  making  representation  of  the  fool- 
hardiness  of  Magellan's  undertaking. 

On  March  27,  1523,  Gomez  received  a  concession  from  the  Em 
peror  to  go  on  a  small  armed  vessel  for  a  year's  cruise  in  the  north 
west,  to  make  farther  search  for  a  passage,  but  he  was  not  to  trespass 
on  any  Portuguese  possession.  The  disputes  between  Portugal  and 
Spain  intensifying,  Gomez's  voyage  was  in  the  mean  time  put  off  for 
a  while. 

Gomara  tells  us  that,  in  the  opinion  of  his  time,  the  Spaniards  had 
gained  the  Moluccas,  at  the  conference  at  Tordesillas,  by 

Dispute  over 

yielding  to  the   demands   ot  the   Portuguese,  so  that  what   the  Moiuc- 

Portugal  gained  in  Brazil  and  Newfoundland   she  lost  in 

Asia  and  adjacent  parts.     The  Portuguese  historian,  Osorius,  viewed 


590 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


it  differently ;  he  counted  in  the  American  gain  for  his  country,  but 
he  denied  the  Spanish  rights  at  the  antipodes.  So  the  longitude  of 
the  Moluccas  became  a  sharp  political  dispute,  which  there  was  an  at- 


ROSENTHAL  OR  NUREMBERG  GORES. 


tempt  to  settle  in  1524  in  a  congress  of  the  two  nations  that 
was  convened  alternately  at  Badajos  and  Elvas,  situated  on 
opposite  sides  of  the  Caya,  a  stream  which  separates  the  two  countries. 


Congress  at 
Badajos. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  591 

Ferdinand  Columbus,  by  a  decree  of  February  19,  1524.  had  been 
made  one  of  the  arbiters.     After  two  months  of  wrangling,  each  side 
stood  stiff  in  its  own  opinions,  and  it  was  found  best  to  break  up  the 
congress.     Following  upon  the  dissolution  of  this  body,  the  Spanish 
government  was  impelled  to  make   the   management  of    the   Indies 
more   effective  than    it   had    been    under  the  commissions    Council"of 
which  had  existed,  and  on   August  18,    1524,  the  Council   the  indies. 
of  the  Indies  was  reorganized  in  more  permanent  form. 

An  immediate  result  of  the  interchange  of  views  at  Badajos  was  a 
renewal  of  the  Gomez  project,  to  examine  more  carefully  the  eastern 
coast  of  what  is  now  the  United  States,  in  the  hopes  of  yet  discovering 
a  western  passage.     Of  that  voyage,  which  is  first  mentioned  in  the 
Sumario  of  Oviedo  in  1526,  and  of  the  failure  of  its  chief   Gomez.s 
aim,  enough  has  already  been  said  in  the  early  part  of  this   v°yase- 
appendix. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  Harrisse  that  the  results  of  this  voyage 
were  embodied  in  the  earliest  printed  Spanish  map  which  we  have 
showing  lines  of  latitude  and  longitude,  —  that  found  in  a  joint  edi 
tion  of  Martyr  and  Oviedo  (1534),  and  which  is  only  known  in  a  copy 
now  in  the  Lenox  Library. 

The  purpose  which  followed  upon  the  congress  of  Badajos,  to  pene 
trate  the  Atlantic  coast  line  and  find  a  passage  to  the  western  sea,  was 
communicated  to  Cortes,  then  in  Mexico,  some  time  before  the  date  of 
his  fourth  letter,  October  15,  1524.  The  news  found  him  already 
convinced  of  the  desirableness  of  establishing  a  port  on  the  great  sea 
of  the  west,  and  he  selected  Zucatuki  as  a  station  for  the  fleets  which 
he  undertook  to  build. 

Other  projects  delayed  the  preparations  which  were  planned,  and  it 
was  not  till  September  3,  1526,  that  Cortes  signified  to  the  1526  Cortes 
Emperor  his  readiness  to  send  his  ships  to  the  Moluccas,  ^helvio-8 
After  a  brief  experimental  trip  up  the  coast  from  Zucatula,  luccas. 
three  of  his  vessels  were  finally  dispatched,  in  October,  1527,  on  a  dis 
astrous  voyage  to  those  islands,  where  the  purpose  was  to  confront  the 
Portuguese  pretensions.  It  so  happened,  meanwhile,  that  Charles  V. 
needed  money  for  his  projects  in  Italy,  and  he  called  Ferdinand  Co 
lumbus  to  Court  to  consult  with  him  about  a  sale  of  his  rights  in  the 
Moluccas  to  Portugal.  Ferdinand  made  a  report,  which  has  not  come 
down  to  us,  but  a  decision  to  sell  was  reached,  and  the  Por- 

~ry  i  T  OA        ^'1G  MolllC- 

tuguese  King  agreed  to  the  price  01  purchase  on  June  ZO,    cassoidto 

1530.  Thus  the  Moluccas,  which  had  been  so  long  the  goal 

of  Spanish  ambition,  pass  out  of  view  in  connection  with  American 

discovery. 

There  is  some  ground  for  the  suspicion,  if  not  belief,  that  the  Por- 


592 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


tuguese  from  the  Moluccas  had  before  this  pushed  eastward  across  the 
Pacific,  and  had  even  struck  the  western  verge  of  that  continent  which 
separated  them  from  the  Spanish  explorers  on  the  Atlantic  side. 


MARTYR-OVIEDO 


We  come  next  to  some  further  developments  on  the  eastern  coast  of 
North  North  America.     A  certain  French  corsair,  known  from  his 

oast  coast.      Florentine  birth  as  Juan   Florin,  had  become  a  terror  by 
preying  on  the  Spanish  commerce  in  the  Indies.     In  January,  1524, 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


593 


he  was  on  his  way,  under  the  name  of  Verrazano,  in  the  expedition 
which  has  given  him  fame,  and   has   supplied  not  a  little 
ground  for   contention,  and  even  for  total  distrust  of   the 


Verrazano. 


MAP,   1534. 

voyage  as  a  fact.  He  struck  the  coast  of  North  Carolina,  turned 
south,  but,  finding  no  harbor,  retraced  his  course,  and,  making  several 
landings  farther  north,  finally  entered,  as  it  would  seem  from  his  de 
scription,  the  harbor  of  New  York.  The  only  point  that  he  names 


THE   VERRAZANO   MAP. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


595 


is  a  triangular  island  which  he  saw  as  he  went  still  farther  to  the  east, 
and  which  has  been  supposed  to  be  Block  Island,  or  possibly  Mar 
tha's  Vineyard.  At  all  events,  the  name  Luisa  which  he  gave  to  it 
after  the  mother  of  Francis  I.  clung  to  an  island  in  this  neighborhood 
in  the  maps  for  some  time  longer.  So  he  went  on,  and,  if  his  land 
ings  have  been  rightly  identified,  he  touched  at  Newport,  then  at  some 
place  evidently  near  Portsmouth  in  New  Hampshire,  and  then,  skirt 
ing  the  islands  of  the  Maine  coast,  he  reached  the  country  which  he 
recognized  as  that  where  the  Bretons  had  been.  He  now  ended  what 
he  considered  the  exploration  of  seven  hundred  leagues  of  an  unknown 


AGNESE,  1536. 

land,  and  bore  away  for  France,  reaching  Dieppe  in  July,  whence, 
on  the  9th,  he  wrote  the  letter  to  the  King  which  is  the  source  of  our 
information.  Attempts  have  been  made,  especially  by  the  late  Henry 
C.  Murphy,  to  prove  this  letter  a  forgery,  but  in  the  opinion  of  most 
scholars  without  success. 

Fortunately  for  the  student,  Hieronimo  da  Verrazano  made,  in  1529, 
a  map,  still  preserved  in  the  college  of  the  Propaganda  at   The  Verra. 
Rome,  in  which  the  discoveries  of  his  brother,  Giovanni,    "anomap. 
are  laid  down.     In  this  the  name  of  Nova  Gallia  supplants  that  of 
Francesca,  which  had  been  used  in  the  map  of  Maiollo  (1527),  sup 
posed,  also,  to  have  some  relation  to  the  Verrazano  voyage. 

The  most  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Verrazano  map  is  a  great 


596 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


MUNSTER, 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


597 


IroJ 


1 


tj 


:Ml« "  <^ 

'i.?..HV:i;,i  ;  :.      * 


inland  expanse  of  water,  which  was  taken  to 
be  a  part  of  some  western  ocean,  and  which 
remained  for  a  long  while  in  some  form  or 
other  in  the  maps.  It  was  made  to  approach 
so  near  the  Atlantic  that  at  one  point  there 
was  nothing  but  a  slender  isthmus  connecting 
the  discoveries  of  the  north  with  the  country 
of  Ponce  de  Leon  and  Ayllon  at  the  south. 

It  is  in  the  Sumario  (1526)  of  Oviedo  that 
we  get  the  first  idea  of  this  sea  of  Verrazano, 
as  Brevoort  contends,  and  we  see  it  in  the 
Maiollo  map  of  the  next  year,  called  The  sea  of 
"  Mare  Indicum,"  as  if  it  were  an  Verrazano. 
indentation  of  the  great  western  ocean  of  Bal 
boa.  It  was  a  favorite  fancy  of  Baptista 
Agnese,  in  the  series  of  portolanos  associated 
with  his  name  during  the  middle  of  the  cen 
tury,  and  in  which  he  usually  indicated  sup- 
posable  ocean  routes  to  Asia.  As  time  went 
on,  the  idea  was  so  far  modified  that  this  in 
dentation  took  the  shape  of  a  loop  of  the  Arc 
tic  seas,  or  of  that  stretch  of  water  which  at 
the  north  connected  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific, 
as  shown  in  the  Munster  map  in  the  Ptolemy 
of  1540,  —  a  map  apparently  based  on  the 
portolanos  of  Agnese,  —  though  the  older  form 
of  the  sea  seems  to  be  adopted  in  the  globe 
of  Ulpius  (1542).  This  idea  of  a  Carolinian 
isthmus  prevailed  for  some  years,  and  may 
have  grown  out  of  a  misconception  of  the  Car 
olina  sounds,  though  it  is  sometimes  carried  far 
enough  north,  as  in  the  Lok  map  of  1582,  to 
seem  as  if  Buzzard's  Bay  were  in  some  way 
thought  to  stretch  westerly  into  its  depths. 
The  last  trace  of  this  mysterious  inner  ocean, 
so  far  as  I  have  discovered,  is  in  a  map  made 
by  one  of  Ralegh's  colonists  in  1585,  and  pre 
served  among  the  drawings  of  John  White  in 
the  De  Bry  collection  of  the  British  Museum, 
and  brought  to  light  by  Dr.  Edward  Eggleston. 
This  drawing  makes  for  the  only  time  that  I 
have  observed  it,  an  actual  channel  at  "  Port 
Royal,"  leading  to  this  oceanic  expanse,  which 


598 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


MICHAEL  LOK,   1582. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULT'S. 


599 


was  later  interpreted  as  an  inland  lake.  Thus  it  was  that  this  geo 
graphical  blunder  lived  more  or  less  constantly  in  a  succession  of  maps 
for  about  sixty  years,  until  sometimes  it  vanished  in  a  large  lake  in 
Carolina,  or  in  the  north  it  dwindled  until  it  began  to  take  a  new  lease 
of  life  in  an  incipient  Hudson's  Bay,  as  in  the  great  Lake  of  Tade- 
nac,  figured  in  the  Molineaux  map  of  1600,  and  in  the  Lago  Dago- 
lesme  in  the  Botero  map  of  1603. 


V 


Norumbega. 


It  was  apparently  during  the  voyage  of  Verrazano  that  an  Indian 
name  which  was  understood  as  "  Aranbega  "  was  picked  up  along  the 
northern  coasts  as  designating  the  region,  and  which  a  little 
later  was  reported  by  others  as  "  Norumbega,"  and  so  passed 
into  the  mysterious  and  fabled  nomenclature  of  the  coast  with  a  good 
deal  of  the  unstableness  that  attended  the  fabulous  islands  of  the  At 
lantic  in  the  fancy  of  the  geographers  of  the  Middle  Ages.  As  a  defi 
nition  of  territory  it  gradually  grew  to  have  a  more  and  more  restricted 


EGBERT  THORNE,  1527. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  601 

application,  coming  down  mainly  after  a  while  to  the  limits  of  the  later 
New  England,  and  at  last  finding,  as  Dr.  Dee  (1580),  Molineaux 
(1600),  and  Champlain  (1604)  understood  it,  a  home  on  the  Penobscot. 
Still  the  region  it  represented  contracted  and  expanded  in  people's 
notions,  and  on  maps  the  name  seemed  to  have  a  license  to  wander. 

During  this  period  the  English  also  were  up  and  down  the  coast,  but 
they  contributed  little  to  our  geographical  knowledge.    Slave-   The  En  UBh 
catching  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  and  lucrative  sales  of  the   on  the  coast. 
human  plunder  in  the  Spanish  West  Indies  and  neighboring  regions, 
seem  to  have  taken  William   Hawkins  and  others  of  his   w-m 
countrymen  to  these  coasts  not  infrequently  between  1525   Hawkins- 
and  1540. 

There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  John  Rut,  an  Englishman,  may 
have  explored  the  northeast  coasts  of  the  present  United 

n,  •        i  rorr  •;  •  i  John  Rut. 

otates  in  loZ7,  a  proposition,  however,  open  to  argument, 
as  the  counter  reasonings  of  Dr.  Kohl  and  Dr.  De  Costa  show.  It  is 
certain  that  at  this  time  Robert  Thome,  an  English  merchant  living  in 
Seville,  was  gaining  what  knowledge  he  could  to  promote  English  en 
terprise  in  the  north,  and  there  has  come  down  to  us  the  map  which 
in  1527  he  gave  to  the  English  ambassador  in  Spain,  Edward  Leigh, 
to  be  transmitted  to  Henry  VIII. 

It  was  in  1526  when  the  Spanish  authorities  thought  that  the  time 
was  fitting  for  making  a  sort  of  register  of  the  progress  of 

,.     ,  Progress  of 

discovery    and  of   the   attendant   cartographical  advances,   maritime 
Nordenskiold  says  that  "  from  the  beginning  of  the  print 
ing  of  maps  the  graduations  of  latitude  and  longitude  were  marked 
down  in  most  printed  maps,  at  least  in  the  margin  ; "  the  most  conspic 
uous  example  of  omitting  these  being,  perhaps,  in  the  work  of  Sebas 
tian  Minister,  at  a  period  a  little   later  than  the  one  we  have  now 
reached. 

In  1503  Reisch  for  the  first  time  settled  upon  something  like  the 
modern  methods  of  indicating  latitude  and  longitude  in  the 
map  which  he  annexed  to  his  Margarita  philosophica  at   and  longi- 
Freiburg,  though  so  far  as  climatic  lines  could  stand    for 
latitudinal  notions,  Pierre  d'Ailly  had  set  an  example  of  scaling  the 
zones  from  the  equator  in  his   map  of  1410.     The  Spaniards,  how 
ever,  did  not  fall  into  the  method  of  Reisch,  so  far  as  published  maps 
are  concerned,  till  long  afterwards  (1534). 

Up  to  the  time  when  the  Strassburg  Ptolemy  was  issued,  in  1513, 
the  chief  activity  in  map-making  had  been  in  Italy.     The    Italian 
cartographers   of  that  country   got  what  they  could  from   maP8- 


602  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Spain,  but  the  main  dependence  was  on  Portuguese  sources,  though 
the  rivals  of  Spain  were  not  always  free  in  imparting  the  know 
ledge  of  their  hydrographical  offices,  since  we  find  Robert  Thorne,  in 
1527,  charging  the  Portuguese  with  having  falsified  their  records. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  no  official  map  of  the  Indies  was  pub 
lished  in  Spain  till  1790. 


SEBASTIAN  MUNSTER. 
[From  Reusner's  Icones,  1590.] 

After  1513,  and  so  on  to  the  middle  of  the  century,  it  was  to  the 
Cartography  north  of  the  Alps  that  the  cosmographical  students  turned 
*ne  ^atest  light  upon  all  oceanic  movements.  The  ques- 
Of  longitude  was  the  serious  one  which  both  naviga 
tors  and  map-makers  encountered.  The  cartographers  were  trying  all 
Map  pro-  sorts  of  experiments  in  representing  the  converging  meri- 
jections.  dians  on  a  plane  surface,  so  as  not  to  distort  the  geography, 
and  in  order  to  afford  some  manifest  method  for  the  guidance  of  ships. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  603 

These  experiments  resulted,  as  Nordenskiold  counts,  in  something  like 
twenty  different  projections  being  devised  before  1600.     For  the  sea 
man  the  difficulty  was  no  less  burdensome  in  trying  to  place  his  ship 
at  sea,  or  to  map  the  contours  of  the  coasts  he  was  following.     The 
navigator's  main  dependence  was  the  course  he  was  steering  and  an 
estimate  of  his  progress.     He  made  such  allowance  as  he  could  for  his 
drift  in  the  currents.     We  have  seen  how  the  imperfection  of  his  in 
struments  and  the  defects  of  his  lunar  tables  misled  Colum-  Lunar  ob_ 
bus  egregiously  in  the   attempts  which  he  made  to  define    servations. 
the  longitude  of  the  Antilles.     He  placed  Espanola  at  70°  west  of 
Seville,  and   La  Cosa  came  near  him  in  counting  it  about  68°,  so  far 
as  one  can  interpret  his  map.     The  Dutch  at  this  time  were  begin 
ning  to  grasp  the  idea  of  a  chronometer,  which  was  the  de-   Chronome. 
vice  finally  to  prove  the  most  satisfactory  in  these  efforts.        ters- 

Reinerus  Gemma  of  Friesland,  known  better  as  Gemma  Frisius,  be 
gan  to  make  the  Dutch  nautical  views  better  known  when  he  suggested, 
a  few  years  later,  the  carrying  of  time  in  running  off  the  longitudes, 
and  something  of  his  impress  on  the  epoch  was  shown  in  the  stand 
which  a  pupil,  Mercator,  took  in  geographical  science.  The  Spieghel 
der  Zeevaardt  of  Lucas  Wagenaer,  in  1584  (Leyden),  was  Earlie8t  sea_ 
the  first  sea-atlas  ever  printed,  and  showed  again  the  Dutch  atlas- 
advance. 

There  were  also  other  requirements  of  sea  service  that  were  not  for 
gotten,  among  which  was  a  knowledge  of  prevalent  winds  and  ocean 
currents,  and  this  was  so  satisfactorily  acquired  that  the  return  voyage 
from  the  Antilles  came,  within  thirty  years  after  Columbu^,  to  be 
made  with  remarkable  ease.  Oviedo  tells  us  that  in  1525  tw  o  cara 
vels  were  but  twenty-five  days  in  passing  from  San  Domingo  to  the 
river  of  Seville. 

Two  of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  Spanish  government  upon  the 
Casa  de  la  Contratacion,  soon  after  the  discovery  of  the  New  World, 
were  to  patronize  invention  to  the  end  of  discovering  a  process  for 
making  fresh  water  out  of  salt,  and  to  improve  ships'  pumps,  —  the 
last  a  conception  not  to  take  effective  shape  till  Ribero,  the  royal  cos- 
mographer,  secured  a  royal  pension  for  such  an  invention  in  1526. 

It  was  in  the   midst  of  these   developments,  both  of  the  practical 
parts  of  seamanship  and  of  the  progress  of  oceanic  discovery,  that  in 
1526  there  was  held  at  Seville  a  convention  of  pilots  and 
oosmographers,  called  by   royal  order,  to  consolidate   and 
correlate  all  the  cartographical  data  which  had  accumulated   SeviUe> 
up  to  that  time  respecting  the  new  discoveries. 

Ferdinand  Columbus  was  at  this  time  in  Seville,  engaged  in  com 


604  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

pleting  a  house  and  library  for  himself,  and  in  planting  the  park  about 

rdinand      them  with  trees  brought  from  the  New  World,  a  single  one 

Columbus.      Of  which,   a  West  Indian  sapodilla,   was  still  standing  in 

1871.     It  was  in  this  house  that  the  convention  sat,  and  Ferdinand 


HOUSE  AND  LIBRARY   OF  FERDINAND   COLUMBUS. 

Columbus  presided  over  it,  while  the  examinations  of  the  pilots  were 
conducted  by  Diego  Ribero  and  Alonso  de  Chaves. 

There  have  come  down  to  us  two  monumental  maps,  the  outgrowth 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


605 


of  this  convention.    One  of  these  is  dated  at  Seville,  in  1527,  purporting 
to  be  the  work  of  the  royal  cosmographer,  and  has  been   1527_29. 
usually  known  by  the  name  of  Ferdinand  Columbus ;  and   MaPs- 
the  other,  dated  1529,  is  known  to  have  been  made  by  Diego  Ribero, 
also  a  royal  cosmographer.     These  maps  closely  resemble  each  other. 


SPANISH  MAP,  1527. 
[After  sketch  in  E.  Mayer's  Die  Entwicklung  der  Seekarten  (Wien,  1877).] 

The  Weimar  chart  of  1527,  which  Kohl,  Stevens,  and  others  have 
assigned  to  Ferdinand  Columbus,  has  been  ascribed  by  Harrisse  to 
Nuno  Garcia  de  Toreno,  but  by  Coote,  in  editing  Stevens  on  Schoner, 
it  is  assigned  to  Ribero,  as  a  precursor  of  his  undoubted  produc 
tion  of  1529. 


606 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


idea  of  a 


We  have  seen  how,  succeeding  to  the  belief  of  Columbus  that  the 

new  regions  were  Asia,  there  had  grown  up,  a  few  years  after  his  death, 

in  spite  of  his  audacious  notarial  act  at  Cuba,  a  strong  presumption 
among  geographical  students  that  a  new  continent  had  been 
f°und'  We  have  seen  this  conception  taking  form  with 
more  or  less  uncertainty  as  to  its  western  confines  immedi 

ately  upon,  and  even  an 

ticipating,  the  discovery 

of  the  actual  South  Sea 

by  Balboa,  and  can  fol 

low  it  down  in  the  maps 

or   globes    of    Stobnicza 

and    Da  Vinci,   in   that 

known    as    the    Lenox 

globe,  in  those  called  the 

Tross  and  Nordenskiold 

gores,  the    SchOner   and 

Hauslab  globes,  the  Ptol 

emy  map  of  1513,  and  in 

those  of  Reisch,  Apianus, 

Laurentius  Frisius,  Mai- 

olio,    Bordone,    Homem, 

and   Miinster,  —  not   to 

name   some   others.     In 

twenty  years  it  had  come 

to  be  a  prevalent  belief, 

and   men's   minds   were 

turned  to  a  consideration 

of  the  possibility  of  this 

revealed    continent  hav 

ing  been,  after  all,  known 

to  the  ancients,  as  Glare- 

anus,  quoting  Virgil,  was 

the  earliest  to  assert  in 

1527. 

About  1525  there  came 

a  partial  reaction,  as  if 

the  discovery  of  Balboa 

had  been  pushed  too  far 

in   its   supposed    results. 

We  find  this  taking:  form  in  1526,  in  an  identification  of 

Reaction  in      -*.-,-,  .  *i      i  i 

the  monk  Worth  America  with  eastern  Asia  in  a  map  ascribed  to  the 
monk  Franciscus,  while  South  America  is  laid  down  as  a 


THE  NANCY 


Franciscus. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


607 


continental  island,  separated  from  India  by  a  strait  only.  The  strait 
is  soon  succeeded  by  an  isthmus,  and  in  this  way  we  get  a  solution  of 
the  problem  which  had  some  currency  for  half  a  century  or  more. 

Orontius  Finaeus  was  one  of   these  later  compromisers  in  cartog 
raphy,  in  a  map  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  made   in   Orontius 
1531,  but  which  appeared  the  next  year  in  the  Novus  Orbis  rinae«s- 

(1532)  of  Simon  Gry- 
naeus,  and  was  used  in 
some  later  publications 
also.  We  find  in  this 
map,  about  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  the  names  which 
Cortes  had  applied  in 
his  map  of  1520  min 
gled  with  those  of  the 
Asiatic  coast  of  Marco 
Polo.  We  annex  a 
sketch  of  this  map  as 
reduced  by  Brevoort  to 
Mercator's  projection. 
A  map  very  similar  to 
this  and  of  about  the 
same  date  is  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum 
among  the  Sloane  manu 
scripts,  and  the  same 
bold  solution  of  the  diffi 
culty  is  found  in  the 
Nancy  globe  of  about 
1540,  and  in  the  globe 
of  GasparVopelof  1543. 
There  is  a  good  in 
stance  of  the  instability 
of  geographical  know 
ledge  at  this  time  in  the 
conversion  of  Johann 
Schoner  from  Johann 
a  belief  in  an  Schoner. 
insular  North  America, 
to  which  he  had  clung 
in  his  globes  or  1515  and  1520,  to  a  position  which  he  took  in  1533, 
in  his  Opusculum  Geographicum,  where  he  maintains  that  the  city 
of  Mexico  is  the  Qninsay  of  Marco  Polo. 


GLOBE. 


ORONTIUS  FIN^US, 
[After  Cimelinus's  Copperplate  of  1560.] 


610  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Previous  to  Cortes's  departure  for  Spain  in  1528,  he  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  dispatched  vessels  from  Tehuantepec  to  the  Moluccas,  but 
The  Pacific  nothing  was  done  to  explore  the  Pacific  coast  northward  till 
explored.  nis  return  to  Mexico.  In  the  spring  or  early  summer  of 
1532  he  sent  Hurtado  de  Mendoza  up  the  coast ;  but  little  success  at 
tending  the  exploration,  Cortes  himself  proceeded  to  Tehuantepec  and 
constructed  other  vessels,  which  sailed  in  October,  1533.  A  gale 
drove  them  to  the  west,  and  when  they  succeeded  in  working  back  and 


CORTES. 

making  the  coast,  they  found  themselves  well  up  what  proved  to  be 

the   California   peninsula.     They   now   coasted   south   and 

developed  its  shape,  which  was  further  brought  out  in  detail 

by  an  expedition  led  by  Cortes   himself  in   1535,  and  by  a  later  one 

sent  by  him  under  Francisco  de  Ulloa  in  1539.     Cortes  had  supposed 


THE    GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


611 


the  peninsula  an  island,  but  this  expedition  of  1539  demonstrated  the 
fact  that  no  passage  to  the  outer  sea  existed  at  the  head  of  the  gulf, 
which  these  earliest  navigators  had  called  the  Sea  of  Cortes.  The 
conqueror  of  Mexico  had  now  made  his  last  expedition  on  the  Pacific, 
and  his  name  was  not  destined  to  be  long  connected  with  this  new 
field  of  discovery,  unless,  indeed,  it  was  a  prompting  of  Cortes  — 
hardly  proved,  however  —  which  attached  to  this  peninsular  region 
the  euphonious  name  of  California,  and  which,  after  an  interval  when 
the  gulf  was  called  the  Red  Sea,  was  applied  to  that  water  also.  The 
views  of  Ulloa  were  confirmed  in  part,  at  least,  by  Castillo  in  1540, 
who  has  left  us  a  map  of  the  gulf. 


..•i-jiJfc  \S       "          ••<%'    j-or    J* 


&3&SJL 

'$  i  \?  ' 

****-&> 


CASTILLO'S   CALIFORNIA. 

The  outer  coast  of  the  peninsula  as  far  north  as  28°  30'  had  been 
established  in  1533.  It  was  ten  years  later,  in  1543,  that  Cabrillo, 
making  his  landfall  in  the  neighborhood  of  33°,  just  within  the  south- 


612  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

ern  bounds  of  the  present  State  of  California,  coasted  up  to  Cape 
Mendocino,  and  perhaps  to  44°,  or  nearly,  to  that  spot,  in  the  present 
State  of  Oregon.  If  Cabrillo,  who  had  died  January  3,  1543,  did 
not  himself  go  so  high,  the  credit  belongs  to  Ferrelo,  his  chief  pilot 

Late  in  1542  Mendoza  sent  an  expedition  under  Ruy  Lopez  de 
Villalobos,  across  the  Pacific,  and  if  a  map  of  Juan  Freire,  made  in 
1546,  is  an  indication  of  his  route,  he  seems  to  have  gone  higher  up 
the  coast  than  any  previous  explorer. 

While  this  development  of  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America 
The  Atlantic  was  gomg  on>  there  were  other  discoverers  still  endeavor- 
North0*  ing  on  the  Atlantic  side  to  connect  the  waters  of  the  two 

America.          oceans. 

In  April,  1534,  Jacques  Cartier,  a  jovial  and  roistering  fellow,  as 
1534.  Father  Jouon  des  Longrais,  his  latest  biographer,  makes 

Cartier.  him  out  (Jacques  Cartier,  Paris,  1888),  and  who  had  led 
the  roving  life  of  a  corsair  in  the  recent  wars  of  France,  was  now 
turning  his  energy  to  solve  the  great  problem  of  this  western  passage. 
He  sailed  from  St.  Malo,  and  for  the  first  time  laid  open,  by  an  offi 
cial  examination,  the  inner  spaces  of  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf,  which 
might  have  been,  indeed,  and  probably  were,  known  earlier  to  the 
hardy  Breton  and  Norman  fishermen.  We  are  deficient  in  a  know 
ledge  of  the  early  frequenting  of  these  coasts  because  the  charts  of 
such  fishermen,  and  of  those  who  visited  the  region  for  trade  in  peltries, 
have  not  come  down  to  us,  though  Kohl  thinks  there  is  some  likelihood 
of  such  records  being  preserved  in  a  portolano  of  the  British  Museum. 

The  track  of  Cartier  about  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  has  caused 
some  discussion  and  difference  of  opinion  in  the  publications  of  Kohl, 
De  Costa,  Laverdiere,  and  W.  F.  Ganong,  the  latter  writer  claiming, 
in  a  careful  paper  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada 
for  1889,  that  in  the  correct  interpretation  of  Cartier's  first  voyage 
we  find  a  key  to  the  cartography  of  the  gulf  for  almost  a  century. 

The  Rotz  map  of  1542  seems  to  be  the  earliest  map  which  we 
know  to  show  a  knowledge  of  Cartier's  first  voyage.  The  Henri  II. 
map  of  1542  still  more  develops  his  work  of  exploration. 

The  chance  of  further  discovery  in  this  direction  induced  the  French 
king  once  more, to  commission  Cartier,  October  30,  1534,  and  early 
in  1535  his  little  fleet  sailed,  and  by  August,  after  some  discourage 
ments,  not  lessened  when  he  found  the  water  freshening,  he  began  to 
ascend  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  reaching  the  site  of  Montreal.  No 
map  by  Cartier  himself  is  preserved,  though  it  is  known  that  he  made 
such.  Thenceforward  the  cartography  of  this  northeastern  region 
showed  the  St.  Lawrence  Gulf  in  a  better  development  of  the  earlier 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


613 


so-called  Square  Gulf  and  of  the  great  river  of  Canada.  It  is  of  rec 
ord  that  Francis  I.,  in  commissioning  Cartier,  considered  that  he  was 
dispatching  him  to  ascend  an  Asiatic  river,  and  the  name  of  Lachine 
even  to-day  is  preserved  as  evidence  of  the  belief  which  Cartier  en 
tertained  that  he  was  within  the  bounds  of  China. 


John  Rotz's  Boke  of  Idiography  —  a  manuscript  of  1542,  preserved 
in  the  British  Museum  —  shows,  in  his  drawing  of  the  re-  jolm  j^^ 
gion  about  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  certain  signs,  as  Kohl  maP- 
thinks,  of  having  had  access  to  the  charts  of  Cartier,  and  Harrisse 
traces  in  them  the  combined  influence  of  the  Portuguese  and  Dieppe 
navigators. 

The  Cartier  voyages  seem  to  have  made  little  impression  outside 
of  France,  and  we  find  for  some  years  few  traces  of  his  discoveries 


614 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


in  the  portolanos  of  Italy  and  in  the  maps  of  the  rest  of  Europe.  It 
kwas  only  when  the  expedition  of  Roberval,  in  1540-41,  excited  at 
tention  that  the  rest  of  Europe  seemed  to  recognize  these  French 
efforts. 


The  later  voyages  of  Cartier,  in  1541  and  1543,  revealed  nothing 
more  of  general  geographical  interest.  Indeed,  the  hope  of 
a  western  passage  in  this  direction  had  been  abandoned  in 
effect  after  Cartier's  second  voyage,  although  the  pilot 
Allefonsce,  who  accompanied  a  later  expedition,  had  been 
detailed  to  explore  the  Labrador  coast  to  that  end,  and  had 
been  turned  back  by  ice.  After  this  he  seems  to  have  gone  south  into 
a  great  bay,  under  42°,  the  end  of  which  he  did  not  reach.  This  may 
have  been  the  large  expanse  partly  shut  in  by  Cape  Sable  (Nova 


Cartier's 

later 

voyages. 


Allefonsce. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


615 


i  ioj 


30 


ZIEGLER'S  SCHONDIA. 


616 


•  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Scotia)  and  Cape  Cod,  now  called  in  the  coast  survey  charts  the  Gulf 
of  Maine ;  or  perhaps  it  may  conform,  taking  into  account  his  regis 
tered  latitude,  to  the  inner  bight  of  it  callec^  Massachusetts  Bay.  At 
all  events,  Allefonsce  believed  himself  on  coasts  contiguous  to  Tar- 
tary,  through  which  he  had  hopes  to  find  access  to  the  more  hospitable 
orient  (Occident)  farther  south.  He  apparently  had  something  of  the 
same  notion  regarding  the  westerly  stretch  of  water  which  he  found 
below  Cape  Cod,  extending  he  knew  not  where,  along  the  inclosure  of 
the  present  Long  Island  Sound. 

In  the  years  both  before  and  after  the  middle  of  the  century, 
French  vessels  were  on  this  coast  in  considerable  numbers  for  purposes 
of  trade  or  for  protecting  French  interests,  but  we  know  nothing  of 
any  accessions  to  geographical  knowledge  which  they  made. 

Allefonsce  speaks  of  the  Saguenay  as  widening,  when  he  went  up, 

till  it  seemed  to  be  an 
arm  of  the  sea,  and  "  I 
think  the  same,"  he  adds, 
"  runs  into  the  Sea  of 
Cathay ;"  and  so  he 
draws  it  on  one  of  his 
maps,  —  an  idea  made 
more  general  in  the  map 
of  Homem  in  1558,  where 
the  St.  Lawrence  really 
becomes  a  channel, 
locked  by  islands,  border 
ing  an  Arctic  Sea.  Ramusio,  in  1553,  has  inferred  from  such  reports 
as  he  could  get  of  Cartier's  explorations,  that  his  track  had  lain  in 
channels  bounded  by  islands,  and  a  similar  view  had  already  been  ex 
pressed  in  a  portolano  of  1536,  preserved  in  the  Bodleian,  which  Kohl 
associates  with  Homem  or  Agnese.  The  oceanic  expansion  of  the 
Saguenay  is  preserved  as  late  as  the  Molineaux  map  of  1600. 

It  is  to  the  work  of  Allefonsce  that  we  probably  owe  another  con 
fusion  of  this  northern  cartography  in  the  sixteenth  century.  What 
River  of  we  now  know  as  Penobscot  Bay  and  River  was  called  by 
Norumbega.  nmi  the  River  of  Norumbega,  and  he  seems  to  have  given 
some  ground  for  believing  that  this  river  connected  the  waters  of  the 
Atlantic  with  the  great  river  of  Canada,  just  as  we  find  it  later  shown 
upon  Gastaldi's  map  in  Ramusio,  by  Ruscelli  in  1561,  by  Martines  in 
1578,  by  Lok  in  1582,  and  by  Jacques  de  Vaulx  in  1584. 

While  this  idea  of  the  north  was  developing,  there  came  in  another 
that  made  the  peninsular  Greenland  of  the  ante-Columbian  maps 
grow  into  a  link  of  land  connecting  Europe  with  the  Americo-Asiatic 


RUSCELLI,  1544. 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


617 


main,  so  that  one  might  in  truth  perambulate .  the  globe  Greenland 
dryshod.  We  find  this  conception  in  the  maps  of  the  Bava-  c°nnectsE 
rian  Ziegler  (1532),  and  in  the  Italians  Ruscelli  (1544)  and 


M  A    R.E 


\At 

CARTA  MARINA,  1548. 

Gastaldi  (1548), — the  last  two  represented  in  the  Ptolemies  of  those 
years  published  in  Italy.  But  these  Italian  cosmographers  were  by  no 
means  constant  in  their  belief,  as  Ruscelli  showed  in  his  Ptolemy  of 
1561,  and  Gastaldi  in  his  Ramusio  map  of  1550. 


618 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


As  the  Pacific  explorations  were  stretched  northward  from  Mexico, 

and  the  peninsula  of   California  was  brought  into   promi- 

America        nence,  there  remained  for  some  time  a  suspicion  that  the 

joined  in  the  ,  ,       ,      ,         , 

higher  lati-     western  ocean  made  a  great  northerly  bend,  so  as  to  sever 
North  America  from  Asia  except  along  the  higher  latitudes. 


^^^^^^:=!^6**^cK~^^ 


MYRITIUS,  1590. 

We  find  this  northerly  extension  of  the  Pacific  in  a  map  of  copper  pre 
served  in  the  Carter-Brown  library,  which  seems  to  have  been  the 
work  of  a  Florentine  goldsmith  somewhere  about  1535  ;  in  the  Carta 
Marina  of  Gastaldi  in  1548  ;  and  it  even  exists  in  maps  of  a  later  date, 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


619 


like  that  of  Paolo  de  Furlani  (1560)  and  that  of  Myritius  (1587).  This 
map  of  Myritius,  which  appeared  in  his  Opusculum  Geographicum, 
published  at  Ingolstadt  in  1590,  is  the  work  of,  perhaps,  the  last  of 


the  geographers  who  did  not  leave  more  or  less  doubt  about  the  con 
nection  of  North  America  with  Asia.     So  it  took  about  a  full  centuiy 
for  the  entanglement  of  the  coasts  of  Asia  and  America, 
which  Columbus  had  imagined,  to  be  practically  eradicated  meniTof  the 
from  the  maps.     Not  that  there  were  not  doubters,   even   and  Asiatic 
very  early,  but  the  faith  in  a  new  continent  grew  slowly  c 
and  had  many  set-backs ;  nor  did  the  Asiatic  connection  fade  entirely 
out,  as  among  the  possibilities  of  geography,  for  considerably  more 
than  a  century  yet  to  come.     The  uncertainties  of  the  higher  latitudes 


620 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


kept  knowledge  in  suspense,  and  even  the  English  settlers  on  the 
northerly  coasts  of  the  United  States  were  not  quite  sure.  Thomas 
Morton,  the  chronicler  of  a  colony  on  the  Massachusetts  shores,  felt 
it  necessary,  so  late  as  1636,  to  make  a  reservation  that  possibly 
the  mainland  of  America  bordered  on  the  land  of  the  Tartars.  In- 


deed,  no  one  could  say  positively,  though  much  was  conjectured,  that 
there  was  not  a  terrestrial  connection  in  the  extreme  northwest, 
1728  under  arctic  latitudes,  till  Bering  in  1728,  two  hundred 

Bering.  an(j  thirty-six  years  after  Columbus  offered  his  prayer 
at  San  Salvador,  passed  from  the  Pacific  into  the  polar  waters.  This 
became  the  solution  of  the  fabled  straits  of  Anian,  an  inheritance 
from  the  very  earliest  days  of  northern  exploration,  which,  after  the 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  621 

middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  revived  in  the  maps  of  Martines, 
Zaltiere,  Mercator,  Porcacchi,  Furlani,  and  Wytfliet,  prefiguring  the 
channel  which  Bering  passed.  Much  in  the  same  way  as  the  southern 
apex  of  South  America  was  a  vision  in  men's  minds  long  before  Ma 
gellan  found  his  way  to  the  Pacific. 

But  we  have  anticipated  a  little.     Coincident  with  the  efforts  of 
Cartier  to  discover  this  northern  passage  we  mark  other  navigators 
working  at  the  same  problem.     The  Spaniard    Alonso  de   1536 
Chaves  made  a  chart  of  this  eastern  coast  in  1536  ;  but  we   craves, 
only  know  of  its  existence  from  the  description  of  it  written  by  Oviedo 
in  1537.    In  the  earliest  map  which  we  have  from  the  hand   1538 
of  Gerard  Mercator,  and  of  which  the  only  copy  known  was   Mercator. 
discovered  some  years  ago  by  the  late  James  Carson  Brevoort,  of  New 
York,  we  find  the  northern  passage  well  defined  in  1538,  and  a  broad 
channel  separating  the  western  coast  of  America  from  a  parallel  coast 
of  Asia,  —  a  kind  of  delineation  which  is  followed  in  some  globe-gores 
of  about  1540,  which  Nordenskiold  thinks  may  have  been   1540    Hart 
the  work  of  George  Hartmann,  of  Nuremberg.     This  map   maun  g°res- 
is    evidently   based   on   Portuguese   information,    and   that    Swedish 
scholar  finds  no  ground  for  associating  it  with  the  lost  globe  of  Scho- 
ner,  as  Stevens  has  done.     A  facsimile  of  part  of  it  has  already  been 
given. 

Sebastian  Mlinster,  in  his  maps  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1540-45,  makes 
a  clear  seaway  to  the  Moluccas  somewhere  in  the  latitude  of   l5^A5t 
the  Strait  of  Belle  Isle.     Minister  was  in  many  ways  anti-  Munster. 
quated  in  his  notions.     He  often  resorted  to  the  old  device  of  the 
Middle  Ages  by  supplying  the  place  of  geographical  details  with  fig 
ures  of  savages  and  monsters. 

We  come  now  to  two  significant  maps  in  the  early  history  of  Amer 
ican  cartography. 

Columbus  had  been  dead  five  and  thirty  years  when  a  natural 
result  grew  out  of  those  circumstances  which  conspired  to  name  the 
largest  part  of  the  new  discoveries  after  a  secondary  pathfinder.  We 
have  seen  that  there  seemed  at  first  no  injustice  in  the  name  of 
America  being  applied  to  a  region  in  the  main  external  to  the  range 
of  Columbus's  own  explorations,  and  how  it  took  nearly  a  half  cen 
tury  before  public  opinion,  as  expressed  in  the  protest  of  Schoner  in 
1533,  recognized  the  injustice  of  using  another's  name.  Whether 
that  protest  was  prompted  by  a  tendency,  already  shown,  to  give 
the  name  to  the  whole  western  hemisphere  is  not  clear  ;  but  certainly 
within  eight  years  such  a  general  application  was  publicly  made,  when 
Mercator,  in  drafting  in  1541  some  gores  for  a  globe,  divided  the 


622  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

name  AME — RICA  so  that  it  covered  both  North  and  South  Amer- 
1541  ica,  and  qualified  its  application  by  a  legend  which  says 

Mercator.       fl^j.  fae  continent  is  "  called  to-day  by  many,  New  India." 
Thus  a  name  that  in  the  beginning  was  given  to  a  part  in  distinction 


MERCATOR'S 


merely  and  without  any  reference  to  the  entire  field  of  the  new  explo 
rations,  was  now  become,  by  implication,  an  injustice  to  the  great  first 
discoverer  of  all.  The  mischief,  aided  by  accident  and  by  a  not  unac* 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


023 


countable  evolution,  was  not  to  be  undone,  and,  in  the  singular  muta 
tions  of  fate,  a  people  inhabiting  a  region  of  which  neither  Columbus 
nor  Vespucius  had  any  conception  are  now  distinctively  known  in  the 
world's  history  as  Americans. 


men  terttne£<n>t  onuttermusjhuttcfe 
tttft^tHMU  i 
F,  5,^  H,T,  6 


GLOBE  OF   1538. 


These  1541  gores  of  Mercator  were  first  made  known  to  scholars  a 
few  years  ago,  when  the  Belgian  government  issued  a  facsimile  edi 
tion  of  the  only  copy  then  known,  which  the  Royal  Library  at  Brus- 


624 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


sels  had  just  acquired;  but  since  there  have  been  two  other  copies 
brought  to  light, —  one  at  St.  Nicholas  in  Belgium,  and  the  other  in 
the  Imperial  library  at  Vienna. 

There  are  some  indications  on  Spanish  globes  of  about  1540,  and 
Henry  ii.  *n  *ke  Desceliers  or  Heniy  II.  map  of  1546,  that  the  Span- 
map,  ish  government  had  sent  explorers  to  the  region  of  Canada 
not  long  after  Cartier's  earliest  explorations,  and  it  is  significant  that 
the  earliest  published  map  to  show  these  Cartier  discoveries  is  the 
1544.  Cabot  °^er  °^  the  two  maps  already  referred  to,  namely,  the 
maP-  Cabot  mappemonde  of  1544,  which  has  been  supposed  a 
Spanish  cartographical  waif.  Early  publications  of  southern  and  mid 
dle  Europe  showed  little  recognition  of  the  same  knowledge. 


MtiNSTER,   1545. 

The  Cabot  map  has  been  an  enigma  to  scholars  ever  since  it  was 
discovered  in  Germany,  in  1843,  by  Von  Martius.  It  was  deposited 
the  next  year  in  the  great  library  at  Paris.  It  is  a  large  elliptical 
world-map,  struck  from  an  engraved  plate,  and  it  bears  sundry  eluci 
dating  inscriptions,  some  of  which  must  needs  have  come  from  Se 
bastian  Cabot,  others  seem  hardly  to  merit  his  authorship,  and  one 
acknowledges  him  as  the  maker  of  the  map.  There  is,  accordingly,  a 
composite  character  to  the  production,  not  easily  to  be  analyzed  so  as 
to  show  the  credible  and  the  incredible  by  clear  lines  of  demarcation. 
We  learn  from  it  how  it  proclaimed  for  the  first  time  the  real  agency 
of  John  Cabot  in  the  discovery  of  North  America,  confirmed  when 
Hakluyt,  in  1582,  printed  the  patent  from  Henry  VII.  There  is  an 
unaccountable  year  given  for  that  discovery,  namely,  1494,  but  we 
seem  to  get  the  true  date  when  Michael  Lok,  in  1582,  puts  down  "  J. 
Cabot,  1497,"  against  Cape  Breton  in  his  map  of  that  year.  As  this 
last  map  appeared  in  Hakluyt's  Divers  Voyages,  and  as  Hakluyt  tells 
us  of  the  existence  of  Cabot's  maps  and  of  his  seeing  them,  we  may 


HISPANIA  MAJOR 

CAPTA  ANNO 


MERCATOR,  1541.     [Sketched  from  hia  gores.] 


ii 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  627 

presume  that  we  have  in  this  date  of  1497  an  authoritative  statement 
We  learn  also  from  this  map  of  1544  that  the  land  first  seen  was  the 
point  of  the  island  now  called  Cape  Breton.  Without  the  aid  of  this 
map,  Biddle,  who  wrote  before  its  discovery,  had  contended  for  Lab 
rador  as  the  landfall. 

We  know,  on  the  testimony  of  Robert  Thorne  in  1527,  if  from  no 
other  source,  that  it  was  a  settled  policy  of  the  Spanish  government  to 
allow  no  one  but  proper  cartographical  designers  to  make    scarcity  of 
its  maps,  "  for  that  perad venture  it  would  not  sound  well  to   sgJ3JJi 
them  that  a  stranger  should  know  or  discover  their  secrets."    maPs- 
This  doubtless  accounts  for  the  fact  that,  in  the  two  hundred  maps 
mentioned  by  Ortelius  in  1570  as  used  by  him  in  compiling  his  atlas, 
not  one  was  published  in  Spain ;  and  every  bibliographer  knows  that 
not  a  single  edition  of  Ptolemy,  the  best  known  channel  of  communi 
cating  geographical  knowledge  in  this  age  of  discovery,  bears  a  Span 
ish  imprint.     The  two  general  maps  of  America  during  the  sixteenth 
century,  which  Dr.  Kohl  could  trace  to  Spanish  presses,  were  that  of 
Medina  in  1545  and  that  of  Gomara  in  1554,  and  these  were  not  of 
a  scale  to  be  of  any  service  in  navigating. 

There  seem  to  be  insuperable  objections  to  considering  that  Se 
bastian  Cabot  had  direct  influence  in  the  production  of  the  map  now 
under  consideration.  It  is  full  of  a  lack  of  knowledge  Cabot's  con- 
which  it  is  not  possible  to  ascribe  to  him.  That  it  is  based 
upon  some  drafts  of  Cabot  is  most  probably  true  ;  but  they  1544- 
are  clearly  drafts,  confused  and  in  some  ways  perverted,  and  eked 
out  by  whatever  could  be  picked  up  from  other  sources. 

That  the  Cabot  map  was  issued  in  more  than  one  edition  is  inferred 
partly  from  the  fact  that  the  legends  which  Chytrasus  quotes  from  it 
differ  somewhat  from  those  now  in  the  copy  preserved  in  Paris ;  and 
indeed  Harrisse  finds  reason  to  suppose  that  there  may  have  been  four 
different  editions.  That  in  some  form  or  other  it  was  better  known 
in  England  than  elsewhere  is  deduced  from  certain  relations  sustained 
with  that  country  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  mentioned  the  map, 
-Livio  Sanuto,  Ortelius,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  Richard  Willes, 
Hakluyt,  and  Purchas. 

Whoever  its  author  and  whatever  its  minor  defects,  this  so-called 
Cabot  map  of  1544  may  reasonably  be  accepted  as  the  earliest  really 
honest,  unimaginative  exhibition  of  the  American  continent  which  had 
been  made.  There  was  in  it  no  attempt  to  fancy  a  northwest  pas 
sage  ;  no  confidence  in  the  marine  or  terrestrial  actuality  of  the  region 
now  known  to  be  covered  by  the  north  Pacific  ;  no  certainty  about  the 
entire  western  coast  line  of  South  America,  though  this  might  have 
been  decided  upon  if  the  maker  of  the  map  had  been  posted  to  date 


628 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


for  that  region.  The  maker  of  it  further  showed  nothing  of  that  pre 
sumption,  which  soon  became  prevalent,  of  making  Tierra  del  Fuego 
merely  but  one  of  the  various  promontories  of  an  immense  Antarctic 
continent,  which  later  stood  in  the  planispheres  of  Ortelius  and  Wytfliet 


MEDINA,   1544. 


This  map  of  Cabot  was  the  last  of  the  principal  cartographical  mon- 
Geographi-  uments  made  north  of  the  Alps  in  this  early  half  of  the  six- 
cai  study  teeiith  century.  The  centre  of  geographical  study  was  now 

transferred  •  _£ 

to  Italy.         transferred  to  Italy,  where  it  had  begun  with  the  opening  of 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


629 


the  interest  in  oceanic  discovery.     For  the  next  score  years  and  more 
we  must  look  mainly  to  Venice  for  the  newer  development. 

In  the  Venice  Ptolemy  of  1548,  we  have  for  the  first  time  a  series 
of  maps  of  the  New  World  by  Gastaldi,  which  were  simply  enlarged 


MEDINA,   1544. 


by  Ruscelli  in  the  edition  of  1561,  except  in  a  few  instances,   1548  Gafl_ 
where  new  details  were  added,  like  the  making  of  Yucatan   taldi- 
a  peninsula  instead  of  the  island  which  Gastaldi  had  drawn.     They 
were  repeated  in  the  edition  of  1562. 


630  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

Meanwhile  the  most  popular  sea  manuals  of  this  period  were  Span 
ish ;  but  they  studiously  avoided  throwing  much  light  on 

Sea  manuals.      .  . 

the  new  geography. 


WYTFLIET,  1597. 


That  of  Martin  Cortes  was  the  first  to  suggest  a  magnetic  pole  as 
distinct  from  the  terrestrial  pole.  Its  rival,  the  Arte  de  Navegar  of 
Pedro  de  Medina,  published  at  Valladolid  in  1545,  never  reached  the 
same  degree  of  popularity,  nor  did  it  deserve  to,  for  his  notions  were 
in  some  respects  erratic. 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


631 


The  English  in  their  theories  of  navigation  had  long  depended  on 
the  teachings  of  the  Spaniards,  and  Eden  had  translated  the  chief  Span 
ish  manual  in  his  Arte  of  Navigation  of  1561. 


WYTFLIET,  1597. 

A  great  advance  was  possible  now,  for  a  new  principle  had  been  de 
vised,  and  an  estimate  of  the  progress  of  a  ship  was  no  longer  depen 
dent  on  visual  observation.     The  log  had  made  it  possible 
to  put  dead  reckoning  on  a  pretty  firm  basis.     This  was  the 
great  new  feature  of  the  Regiment  of  the  Sea,  which  the  Englishman, 


632  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

William  Bourne,  published  in  1573 ;  and  sixteen  years  later,  in  1589, 
another  Englishman,  Blunderville,  made  popularly  known  the  new  in 
strument  for  taking  meridian  altitudes  at  sea,  the  cross-staff,  which  had 
very  early  superseded  the  astrolabe  on  shipboard. 

The  inclination  or  dip  of  the  needle,  showing  by  its  increase  an 
approach  to  a  magnetic  pole,  was  not  scaled  till  1576,  when  Robert 
Norman  made  his  observations,  and  it  is  not  without  some  service 
to-day  in  that  combination  of  phenomena  of  which  Columbus  noted 
the  earliest  traces  in  his  first  voyage  of  1492. 


THE  CROSS-STAFF* 

It  is  significant  how  large  a  part  in  the  cardinal  discoveries  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  was  taken  by  Italian  navigators,  sea- 
itaiian  dis-  men,  shipwrights,  mathematicians,  and  merchants,  whether 
coverere.  jn  Portugal  or  Spain,  France  or  England.  It  is  curious,  too, 
to  observe  how,  when  the  theoretical  work  and  confirmatory  explora 
tions  were  finished,  and  the  commercial  spirit  succeeded  to  that  of  sci 
ence,  England  embarked  with  her  adventurous  spirit.  The  death  of 
English  dis-  Queen  Mary  in  1558  was  the  signal  for  English  exertion, 
coverers.  an(j  fa^  exertion  became  ominous  to  all  Europe  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  accompanied  by  an  intellectual  movement,  typified  in 
Bacon  and  Shakespeare,  similar  to  that  which  stirred  the  age  of  Co 
lumbus  and  the  Italian  renaissance. 

John  Hawkins  and  African  marauders  of  his  English  kind  were 
John  Haw-  selling  negro  slaves  in  Espanola  in  1562  and  subsequent 
kinB-  years,  and  from  them  we  get  our  first  English  accounts 

of  the  Florida  coast,  which  on  their  return  voyages  they  skirted. 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  633 

America  had  at  this  time  been  abandoned  for  a  long  while  to  Spain 
and  France,  and  the  latter  power  had  only  entered  into  competition 
with  Charles  V.,  when  Francis  L,  as  we  have  seen,  had  sent  out  Verra- 
zano  in  1521  to  take  possession  of  the  north  Atlantic  coasts.  Out  of 
this  grew  upon  the  maps  the  designation  of  New  France,  New 
which  was  attached  to  the  main  portion  of  the  North  Amer-  France, 
ican  continent.  And  this  French  claim  is  recognized  in  the  maps, 
painted  about  1562,  on  the  walls  of  the  geographical  gallery  in  the 
Vatican.  So  the  French  stole  upon  the  possession  of  Spain  in  the 
West  Indies  ;  and  the  English  followed  in  their  wake,  when  the  death 
of  Mary  rendered  it  easier  for  the  English  to  smother  their  inherited 
antipathy  to  France.  This  done,  the  English  in  due  time  joined  the 
French  in  efforts  to  gain  an  ascendency  over  Spain  in  the  Indies,  to 
compensate  for  the  loss  of  such  power  in  Italy.  The  Span-  gpanigh 
iards,  though  they  had  attempted  to  make  settlements  along 
the  Chesapeake  at  different  times  between  1566  and  1573, 
never  succeeded  in  making  any  impression  on  the  history  of  this  north 
ern  region. 

The  cartography  of  the  north  was  at  this  period  subject  to  two  new 
influences  ;  and  both  of  them  make  large  demands  upon  the  credulity 
of  scholarship  in  these  latter  days. 

Attempts  have  been  made  to  trace  some  portion  of  the  development 
of  the  coasts  of  the  northeastern  parts  of  the  United  States  Andr(5 
to  the  publications  of  a  mendacious  monk,  Andre  Thevet.  Thevet° 
He  had  been  sent  out  to  the  French  colony  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1555, 
where  he  remained  prostrated  with  illness  till  he  was  able  to  reem- 
bark  for  France,  January  31,  1556.  In  1558  he  published  his  Singu- 
laritez  de  la  France  Antarctique,  a  descriptive  and  conglomerate  work, 
patched  together  from  all  such  sources  as  he  could  pillage,  professing 
to  follow  more  or  less  his  experiences  on  this  voyage.  He  says  noth 
ing  in  it  of  his  tracking  along  the  east  coast  of  the  present  United 
States.  Seeking  notoriety  and  prestige  for  his  country,  he  pretends, 
however,  in  his  Cosmographie  published  in  1575,  to  recount  the  ex 
periences  of  the  same  voyage,  and  now  he  professes  to  have  followed 
this  same  eastern  coast  to  the  region  of  Norumbega.  Well-equipped 
scholars  find  no  occasion  to  believe  that  these  later  statements  were 
other  than  boldly  conceived  falsehoods,  which  he  had  endeavored  to 
make  plausible  by  the  commingling  of  what  he  could  filch  from  the 
narratives  of  others. 

It  was  at  this  time  also  (1558)  that  there  was  published  at  Venice 
the  strange  and  riddle-like  narrative  which  purports  to  give  the  expe- 


634 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


riences  of  the  brothers  Zeni  in  the  north  Atlantic  waters  in  the  four- 
The  Zeni  teenth  century.  The  publication  came  at  a  time  when,  with 
story.  the  transfer  of  cartographical  interest  from  over  the  Alps 

to  the  home  of  its  earliest  growth,  the  countrymen  of  Columbus  were 
seeking  to  reinstate  their  credit  as  explorers,  which  during  the  fifteenth 


3>A  NAVJL&AR.  PE  HiqOLQ  XT  AJSTONIO  Z£NI 


THE  ZENI  MAP. 

century  and  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  they  had  lost  to  the  peoples 
of  the  Iberian  peninsula.  Anything,  therefore,  which  could  empha 
size  their  claims  was  a  welcome  solace.  This  accounts  both  for  the 
bringing  forward  at  this  time  of  the  long-concealed  Zeni  narrative,  — 
granting  its  genuineness,  —  and  for  the  influence  which  its  accompa- 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


685 


The  Zeni 
map. 


nying  map  had  upon  contemporary  cartography.  This  map  professed 
to  be  based  upon  the  discoveries  made  by  the  Zeni  brothers,  and 
upon  the  knowledge  acquired  by  them  at  the  north  in  the  fourteenth 
century.  It  accordingly  indicated  the  existence  of  countries  called  Es- 
totiland  and  Drogeo,  lying  to  the  west,  which  it  was  now  easy  to  iden 
tify  with  the  Baccalaos 
of  the  Cabots,  and  with 
the  New  France  of  the 
later  French. 

"  If  this  remarkable 
map,"  says  Norden- 
skiold,  "  had  not  re 
ceived  extensive  circu 
lation  under  the  sanc 
tion  of  Ptole 
my's  name," 
for  it  was  copied  in  the 
edition  of  1561  of  that 
geographer,  "it  would 
probably  have  been 
soon  forgotten.  During 
nearly  a  whole  century 
it  had  exercised  an  in 
fluence  on  the  mapping 
of  the  northern  coun 
tries  to  which  there 
are  few  parallels  to  be 
found  in  the  history  of 
cartography.''  It  is 
Nordenskiold's  further 
opinion  that  the  Zeni 
map  was  drawn  from 
an  old  map  of  the  north 
made  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  from  which  the 
map  found  in  the  War 
saw  Codex  of  Ptolemy 
of  1467  was  also  drawn. 
He  further  infers  that  some  changes  and  additions  were  imposed  to 
make  it  correspond  with  the  text  of  the  Zeni  narrative. 

The  year  1569  is  marked  by  a  stride  in  cartographical  science,  of 
which  we  have  not  yet  outgrown  the  necessity. 


THE   ZENI  MAP. 


636 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


The  plotting  of  courses  and  distances,  as  practiced  by  the  early 
explorers,  was  subject  to  all  the  errors  which  necessarily 
Stop'spro-    accompany  the  lack  of  well-established  principles,  in  repre 
senting  the  curved  surface  of  the  globe  on  a  plane  chart. 


THE  WARSAW  CODEX,  1467; 

Cumbrous  and  rude  globes  were  made  to  do  duty  as  best  they  could ; 
but  they  were  ill  adapted  to  use  at  sea.  Nordenskiold  (Facsimile 
Atlas,  p.  22)  has  pointed  out  that  Pirckheimer,  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1525, 
had  seemingly  anticipated  the  theory  which  Mercator  now  with  some 
sort  of  prevision  developed  into  a  principle,  which  was  applied  in  his 
great  plane  chart  of  1569.  The  principle,  however,  was  not  definite 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


637 


enough  in  his  mind  for  the  clear  exposition  of  formulae,  and  he  seems 
not  to  have  attempted  to  do  more  than  rough-hew  the  idea.  'The  hint 
was  a  good  one,  and  it  was  left  for  the  Englishman  Edward  Wright  to 
put  its  principles  into  a  formulated  problem  in  1599,  a  century  and 


after  Nordenskiold. 


more  after  Columbus  had  dared  to  track  the  ocean  by  following  lati 
tudinal  lines  in  the  simplest  manner. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  Wright  had  the  fashioning  of  the  large 
map  which,  on  this  same  Mercator  projection,  Hakluyt  had  included 
in  his  Principall  Navigations  in  1599.  Hondius  had  also  adopted 
a  like  method  in  his  mappemonde  of  the  same  year. 


638 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


In  1570  the  publication  of   the  great  atlas  of  Abraham  Ortelius 
showed  that  the  centre  of  map-making;  had  again  passed 

1570      Tlie 

Theatrum  of  from  Italy,  and  had  found  a  lodgment  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  Theatrum  of  Ortelius  was  the  signal  for  the  downfall 

of  the  Ptolemy  series  as  the  leading  exemplar  of  geographical  ideas. 


o 


MERCATOR,  1569. 

The  editions  of  that  old  cartographer,  with  their  newer  revisions,  never 
again  attained  the  influence  with  which  they  had  been  invested  since 
the  invention  of  printing.  This  influence  had  been  so  great  that  Nor- 
DecMne  of  denskiold  finds  that  between  1520  and  1550  the  Ptolemy 
Ptolemy.  maps  had  been  five  times  as  numerous  as  any  other.  They 
had  now  passed  away ;  and  it  is  curious  to  observe  that  Ortelius  seems 
to  have  been  ignorant  of  some  of  the  typical  maps  anterior  to  his 
time,  and  which  we  now  look  to  in  tracing  the  history  of  American 
cartography,  like  those  of  Ruysch,  Stobnicza,  Agnese,  Apianus,  Vadi- 
anus,  and  Girava. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


639 


It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  when  Ortelius  published  his 
Theatrum,  and  gave  a  list  of  ninety-nine  makers  of  maps 
whom  he  had  consulted,  not  a  solitary  one  of  Spanish  make 
was  to  be  found  among  them.     It  shows  how  effectually  the  Council 
of  the  Indies  had  concealed  the  cartographical  records  of  their  office. 


MERCATOR. 

It  was  eighty  years  since  the  English  under  John  Cabot  had  under 
taken  a  voyage  of  discovery  in  the  New  World.     The  inter-  Eng 
val  passed  not  without  preparation  for  new  efforts,  which  ifoh  expiora- 
had  for  a  time,  however,  been  extended  to  the   northwest 
rather  than  to  the  northeast.     In  1548  Sebastian  Cabot  had   J^Sebas- 
returned  to  his  native  land  to  assume  the  first  place  in  her 
maritime  world.      His  influence   in  directing,   and  that  of  Richard 
Eden  in  informing,  the  English  mind  prepared  the  way  for  the  advent 
of  Frobisher,  the  younger  Hawkins,  and  Drake. 


640 


CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 


1576. 


Frobisher's  voyage  of  1576  was  the  true  beginning  of  the  arctic 
Fro-     search  for  a  northwest  passage,  all  earlier  efforts  having  been 
in  lower  latitudes.     He  had  sought,  by  leaving  Greenland 


ORTELIUS. 


on  the  right,  to  pass  north  of  the  great  American  barrier,  and  thus 
reach  the  land  of  spices.  He  congratulated  himself  on  having  found 
the  long-desired  strait,  when,  naming  it  for  himself,  he  returned  to 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


641 


England.     Frobisher  attempted  to  add  to  these  earlier  discoveries  by 
a  voyage  the  next  year,  1577,  but   he  made   exploration  1577_78- 
secondary  to  mining  for  gold,  and  not  much  was  done.     A   Frobisher. 


!TPV 


QVID  El  POTE5T  VIDERI  MAGNVM  IN 
OMNIS,TOTIVSQ.VE   MVNDI  NO'. 


ORTELIUS,  1570. 


third  voyage  in  1578  brought  him  into  Hudson's  Straits,  which  he 
entered  with  the  hope  of  finding  it  the  channel  to  Cathay.     But  in  all 
his  voyages  Frobisher  only  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  arctic  north. 
It  was  one  of  the  results  of  Frobisher's  voyages  that  they  served  to 


642  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

The  Zeni  in-   implan*  in  tne  minds  of  the  cartographers  of  the  northern 
fluence.          waters  the  notions  of   the  Zeni   geography,  and  aided  to 


SEBASTIAN   CABOT. 


give  those  notions  a  new  lease  of  favor.     It  is  conjectured  that  Fro- 
bisher  had  the  Zeni  map  witli  him,  or  its  counterpart  in  one  of  the  re- 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS.  643 

cent  Ptolemies.  This  map  had  placed  the  point  of  Greenland  under 
66°  instead  of  61°,  and  under  the  last  latitude  this  map  had  shown 
the  southern  coast  of  its  insular  Frisland.  Therefore,  when  Frobisher 
saw  land  under  61°,  which  was  in  fact  Greenland,  he  supposed  it  to 
be  Frisland,  and  thus  the  maps  after  him  became  confused.  A  like 


FROBISHER. 

mischance  befell  Davis,  a  little  later.  When  this  navigator  found 
Greenland  in  61°,  he  supposed  it  an  island  south  of  Greenland,  which 
he  called  "  Desolation,"  and  the  fancy  grew  up  that  Frobisher's  route 
must  have  gone  north  of  this  island  and  between  it  and  Greenland,  and 
so  we  have  in  later  maps  this  other  misplacement  of  discoveries. 

While  Frobisher  was  absent,  Drake  developed  his  great  1577    Pran. 
scheme  of  following  in  the  southerly  track  of  Magellan.  cis  Drake- 


644 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Four  years  before  (1573),  being  at  Panama,  he  had  seen  from  a  tree- 
top  the  great  Pacific,  and  had  resolved  to  be  the  first  of  the  English 
to  furrow  its  depths.  In  1577,  starting  on  his  great  voyage  of  circum 
navigation,  he  soon  added  a  new  stretch  of  the  Pacific  coast  to  the 
better  knowledge  of  the  world.  When  he  returned  to  England,  he 
proved  to  be  the  first  commander  who  had  taken  his  ship,  the  "  Peli 
can,"  later  called  the  "  Golden  Hind  "  wholly  round  the  globe,  for  Ma 
gellan  had  died  on  the  way.  Passing  through  Magellan's  Strait  and 
Drake  sees  entering  the  Pacific,  Drake's  ship  was  separated  from  its 
Cape  Horn,  companions  and  driven  south.  It  was  then  he  saw  the  Cape 


FROBISHER,  1578. 

Horn  of  a  later  Dutch  navigator,  and  proved  the  non-existence  of  that 
neighboring  antarctic  continent,  which  was  still  persistently  to  cling  to 
the  maps.  Bereft  of  his  other  ships,  which  the  storm  had  driven  apart, 
Drake,  during  the  early  months  of  1579,  made  havoc  among  the  Span 
ish  galleons  which  were  on  the  South  American  coasts. 

In  March,  1579,  surfeited  with  plunder,  he  started  north  from  the 
coast  of  Mexico,  to  find  a  passage  to  the  Atlantic  in  the  upper  lati 
tudes. 

In  June  he  had  reached  42°  north,  though  some  have  supposed  that 
in  the  north  ^e  wen*  several  degrees  higher.  He  had  met,  however,  a 
Pacific.  rigorous  season,  and  his  ropes  crackled  with  the  ice.  The 
change  was  such  a  contrast  to  the  allurements  of  his  experiences 
farther  to  the  south  that  he  gave  up  his  search  for  the  strait  that 
would  carry  him,  as  he  had  hoped,  to  the  Atlantic,  and,  turning  south, 
he  reached  a  bay  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  San  Francisco, 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


645 


where  he  tarried  for  a  while.  Having  placed  the  name  of  New  Al 
bion  on  the  upper  California  coast,  and  fearing  to  run  the  hazards  of 
the  southern  seas,  where  his  plundering  had  made  the  Spaniards  alert, 


FRANCIS    DRAKE. 

he  sailed  westerly,  and,  rounding  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  reached 
England  in  due  time,  and  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  earliest  of  Eng 
lish  circumnavigators. 

It  is  one  of  the  results  of  Drake's  explorations  in  1579-80  that 
we  get  in  subsequent  maps  a  more  northerly  trend  to  the  California 
coast. 


646  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Shortly  after  this,  a  great  confusion  in  the  maps  of  this  Pacific  region 
Confusion  in  came  m-  From  what  it  arose  is  not  very  apparent,  except 
the  Pacific  that  absence  of  direct  knowledge  in  geography  opens  a  wide 
raphy.  field  for  discursiveness.  The  Michael  Lok  map  of  1582  in 

dicates  this  uncertainty.  It  seemed  to  be  the  notion  that  the  Arctic 
Sea  was  one  and  the  same  with  that  of  Verrazano ;  also,  that  it  came 
down  to  about  the  latitude  of  Puget  Sound,  and  that  the  Gulf  of  Cali 
fornia  stretched  nearly  up  to  meet  it. 

Francisco  Gali,  a  Spanish  commander,  returning  to  Acapulco  from 
Francisco  China  in  1583,  tried  the  experiment  of  steering  northward 
GalL  to  about  38°,  when  he  turned  west  and  sighted  the  Ameri 

can  coast  in  that  latitude.  At  this  point  he  steered  south,  and  showed 
the  practicability  of  following  this  circuitous  route  with  less  time  than 
was  required  to  buffet  the  easterly  trades  by  a  direct  eastern  passage. 
His  experiment  established  one  other  fact,  namely,  the  great  width  of 
water  separating  the  two  continents  in  those  upper  latitudes ;  for  he  had 
Proves  the  ^ ound  it  to  be  1200  leagues  across  instead  of  there  being  a 
oTthVpac?1  narrow  strait,  as  the  theorizing  geographers  had  supposed, 
fie.  Gali  seems  also  to  have  shown  that  the  distance  south  from 

Cape  Mendocino  to  the  point  of  the  California  peninsula  was  not  more 
than  half  as  great  as  the  maps  had  made  it.  His  voyage  was  a  signifi 
cant  source  of  enlightenment  to  the  cartographers. 

Eastern  T°  re^urn  to  the  eastern  coasts.    An  English  vessel  under 

N0orth°Amer  Simon  Ferdinando  spent  a  short  season  in  1579  somewhere 
ica-  about  the  Gulf  of  Maine,  and  was  followed  the  next  year  by 

E5J|iishTon  anotner  under  John  Walker,  and  in  1593  by  still  a  third 
the  coast.  under  Richard  Strong. 

For  eighty  years  England  might  have  rested  her  claim  to  North 
America  on  the  discoveries  of  the  Cabots  ;  but  Queen  Elizabeth  first 
gave  prominence  to  these  pretensions  when  she  granted  to  Sir  Hum 
phrey  Gilbert  in  1578  the  right  to  make  a  settlement  somewhere  in 
these  more  northerly  regions.  Gilbert's  first  voyage  accomplished 
nothing,  and  there  was  an  interdict  to  prevent  a  second,  since  Eng 
land  might  have  use  for  daring  seamen  nearer  home.  "  First,"  says 
Robert  Hues,  "  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  with  great  courage  and  forces, 
attempted  to  make  discovery  of  those  parts  of  America  which  were 
Sir  Hum  ^e*  un^nown  to  the  Spaniards ;  but  the  success  was  not 
grey  Gil-  answerable."  The  effort  was  not  renewed  till  1583,  when 
Gilbert  took  possession  of  Newfoundland  and  attempted  to 
make  settlements  farther  south  ;  but  disaster  followed  him,  and  his  ship 
foundered  off  the  Azores  on  his  return  voyage. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


647 


It  was  at  this  time  that  Sir  Walter  Ralegh  came  into  prominence 
in  pushing  English  colonization  in  America.     He  had  been 
associated  with  his  half-brother,  Gilbert,  in  the  earlier  move-  Ralegh, 
ments,  but  now  he  was  alone.     In  1584  he  got  his  new  charter,  partly 


GILBERT'S   MAP,   1576. 

by  reason  of  the  urgency  of  Hakluyt  in  his  Westerns  Planting.  Ra 
legh  had  his  eye  upon  a  more  southern  coast  than  Gilbert  had  aimed 
for,  —  upon  one  better  fitted  to  develop  self-dependent  colonization. 
He  knew  that  north  of  what  was  called  Florida  the  Spaniards  had  but 
scantily  tracked  the  country,  and  that  they  probably  maintained  no 
settlements.  Therefore  to  reach  a  region  somewhere  south  of  the 


648 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


Chesapeake  was  the  aim  of  the  first  company  sent  out  under  Ralegh's 
inspiration.  These  adventurers  made  their  landfall  where  they  could 
find  no  good  inlet,  and  so  sailed  north,  searching,  until  at  last  they 
reached  the  sounds  on  the  North  Carolina  coast,  and  tarried  awhile. 
Satisfied  with  the  quality  of  the  country,  they  returned  to  England  ; 
and  their  recitals  so  pleased  Ralegh  and  the  Queen  that  the  country 
was  named  Virginia,  and  preparations  were  made  to  dispatch  a  colony. 
It  went  the  next  year,  but  its  history  is  of  no  farther  importance  to 
our  present  purpose  than  that  it  marks  the  commencement  of  English 
colonization,  disastrous  though  it  was,  on  the  North  American  conti 
nent,  and  the  beginning  of  detailed  English  cartography  of  its  coast, 
in  the  map,  already  referred  to,  which  seems  to  open  a  passage,  some 
where  near  Port  Royal,  to  an  interior  sea. 

In  1585-86  John  Davis  had  been  buffeting  among  the  icebergs  of 
1585-86  Greenland  and  the  north  in  hopes  to  find  a  passage  by  the 
John  Davis,  northwest;  on  June  30,  1587,  he  reached  72°  12'  on  the 
Greenland  coast,  and  discovered  the  strait  known  by  his  name,  and  in 
1595  when  he  published  his  World's  Hydrographical  Description,  he 
maintained  that  he  had  touched  the  threshold  of  the  northwest  pas 
sage.  He  tells  us  that  the  globe  of  Molineaux  shows  how  far  he  went. 
Seamanship  owes  more  to  Davis  than  to  any  other  Englishman.  In 
English  sea-  1590,  or  thereabout,  he  improved  the  cross-staff,  and  giving 
manship.  somewhat  more  of  complexity  to  it,  he  produced  the  back- 
jstaff.  This  instrument  gave  the  observer  the  opportunity  of  avoiding 

the  glare  of  the  sun,  since  it  was 
used  with  his  back  to  that  lumi 
nary  ;  and  when  Flamsteed,  the 
first  astronomer  royal  at  Green 
wich,  used  a  glass  lens  to  throw 
reflected  light,  the  first  approach 
to  the  great  principle  of  taking 
angles  by  reflection  was  made, 
which  was  later,  in  1731,  to  be 
carried  to  a  practical  result  in 
Hadley's  quadrant. 

The  art  of  finding  longitude 
was  still  in  an  uncertain  state. 
Gemma  Frisius,  as  we  have  noted, 
had  as  early  as  1530  divined  the 
method  of  carrying  time  by  a 
watch ;  but  it  was  not  till  1726 
BACK-STAFF,  that  anything  really  practicable 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS.  649 

came  of  it,  in  a  timekeeper  constructed  by  Harrison.  This  watch 
was  continually  improved  by  him  up  to  1761,  when  the  method  of 
ascertaining  longitude  by  chronometer  became  well  established ;  and 
a  few  years  later  (1767)  the  first  nautical  almanac  was  published, 
affording  a  reasonably  good  guide  in  lunar  distances,  as  a  means  in 
the  computations  of  longitude. 

In  1676  the  Greenwich  observatory  had  been  founded  to  attempt 
the  rectification  of  lunar  tables,  then  so  erroneous  that  the 
calculations  for  longitude  were  still  uncertain.     In  1701  Ed 
mund  Halley  had  published  his  great  variation  charts.     These  dates 
will  fix  in  the  reader's  mind  the  advance  of  scientific  skill  as  applied 
to  navigation  and  discovery.     It  will  be  well  also  to  remember  that 
in  1594  Davis  published  his  Seaman's  Secrets,  the  first  manual  in  the 
English  tongue,  written  by  a  practical  sailor,  in  which  the  principles  of 
great  circle  sailing  were  explained. 

The  first  marine  atlas  had  been  printed  at  Leyden  in  1583-84; 
but  the  Dutch  had  not  at  that  time  taken  any  active  part  in    1583_84 
the  development  of  discovery  in  the  New  World.     Their   fj^11^™*" 
longing  for  a  share  in  it,  mated  with  a  certain  hostile  inten 
tion  towards  the  Spaniards,  instigated  the  formation  of  the   west  India 
West  India  Company,  which  had  first  been  conceived  in  the   c 
mind  of  William  Usselinx  in  1592,  though  it  was  not  put  into  execu 
tion  till  twenty-five  years  later.     It  was  claimed  by  the  Dutch  that  in 
1598  the  ships  of  their  Greenland  Company  had  discovered 
the  Hudson   River,  though  there  can  be    little  doubt  that 
the  French,  Spanish,  and  perhaps  English  had  been  there  much  ear 
lier.     It  is  also  claimed  that  the  straits  shown  in  Lok's  map  in  1582 
had  instigated  Heinrich  Hudson  to  his  later  search.     But  the  truth  in 
all  these  questions   which  involve  national  rights  is  very  much  per 
plexed  with   claim    and   counter-claim,  invention   and  perversion,   in 
which  historical  data  are  at  the  beck  of  political  objects. 

By  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Dutch  began  to  appear  on 
the  coasts  of  the  Middle  and  New  England  States,  and  the   1598    The 
cartography  of  those  regions  developed  rapidly  under  their 
observation  ;  but  it  was  through  the  boating  explorations  of 
Captain  John  Smith  in  1614  that  it  took  a  shape  nearer  the 
truth.     It  is  to  him  that  the  northerly  parts  owe  the  name   a 
of  New  England,  which  Prince  Charles  confirmed  for  it.     The  reports 
from  Hudson,  May,  and  others  instigated  a  plan  marked  out  in  1618, 
but  not  directly  ordered  by  the  States  General  till  1621,  which  led  to 
the  Dutch  occupation  of  Manhattan  and  the  neighboring  regions,  intro 
ducing  more  strongly  than  before  a  Dutch  element  into  the  maps. 


650  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

When  the  seventeenth  century  opened,  the  English  had  come  well  to 
The  English  the  front  in  maritime  explorations.  A  large-minded  and 
maritime1  patriotic  man,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  did  much  in  his  capacity 
discovery.  as  governor  of  the  "  merchants  trading  into  the  East  In 
dies  "  to  direct  contemporary  knowledge  into  better  channels.  Dr« 
Richard  Thomas  Hood  gave  public  lectures  in  London  on  the  im- 
Hakiuyt.  provements  in  methods  of  navigation.  Richard  Hakluyt, 
the  historiographer  of  the  new  company,  had  already  shown  that  he 
had  inherited  the  spirit  of  helpful  patronage  which  had  characterized 
the  labors  of  Eden. 

We  find  the  peninsula  made  by  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Atlantic 
insularized  from  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  transverse  channel  being  now  on  the  line  of  the  Hudson, 
The  search  then  of  the  Penobscot,  then  of  the  St.  Croix,  and  when  the 
em  passage  seventeenth  century  came  in,  it  was  not  wholly  determined 
at  the  north.  ^^  fae  longed- for  western  passage  might  not  yet  be  found 
somewhere  in  this  region.  On  July  24,  1601,  George  Waymouth,  a 
navigator,  as  he  was  called,  applied  to  the  London  East  India  Com- 
1601  George  Panv  *°  ^e  assisted  m  making  an  attempt  to  discover  a 
Waymouth.  northwest  passage  to  India,  and  the  company  agreed  to  his 
proposition.  The  Muscovy  Company  protested  in  vain  against  such 
an  infringement  of  its  own  rights ;  but  it  found  a  way  to  smother  its 
grief  and  join  with  its  rival  in  the  enterprise.  Through  such  joint 
action  Waymouth  was  sent  by  the  northwest  "towards  Cataya  or 
China,  or  the  back  side  of  America,"  bearing  with  him  a  letter  from 
Queen  Elizabeth  to  the  Emperor  of  "  China  or  Kathia."  The  attempt 
failed,  and  Waymouth  returned  almost  ignominiously. 

In  1602,  under  instructions  from  the  East  India  Company,  he  again 
sailed,  and  now  pushed  a  little  farther  into  Hudson's  Strait  than 
Hudson  at  anv  one  had  been  before.  In  1609  Hudson  had  made  some 
the  north.  explorations,  defining  a  little  more  clearly  the  northern 
coasts  of  the  present  United  States ;  and  in  1610  he  sailed  again  from 
England  to  attempt  the  discovery  of  the  northwest  passage,  in  a  small 
craft  of  fifty-five  tons,  with  twenty-three  souls  on  board.  Following 
the  tracks  of  Davis  and  Waymouth,  he  went  farther  than  they,  and 
revealed  to  the  world  the  great  inland  sea  which  is  known  by  his 
name,  and  in  which  he  probably  perished. 

In  1612-13  Sir  Thomas  Button  developed  more  exactly  the  outline 
Hudson's  *n  Par*  °^  tm's  great  bay,  and  in  1614  the  Discovery,  under 
Bay-  Robert  Bylot  and  William  Baffin,  passed  along  the  coasts  of 

Hudson's  Strait,  making  most  careful  observation,  and  Baffin  took 
for  the  first  time  at  sea  a  lunar  observation  for  longitude,  according  to 
a  method  which  had  been  suggested  as  early  as  1514.  It  was  on  a 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


651 


voyage  undertaken  in  the  next  year,  1615,  that  Baffin,  exceeding  the 
northing  of  Davis,  found  lying  before  him  the  great  expanse   1615    Baf. 
of  Baffin's  Bay,  through  which  he  proceeded  till  he  found  a  fin'B  Bay- 
northern  exit  in  Sir  Thomas  Smith's  Sound,  under  78°.     Baffin  did 
all  this  with  an  accuracy  which  surprised  Sir  John  Ross,  who  was  the 
next  to  enter  the  bay,  two  centuries  later.     It  was  in  these  years  of 
Hudson  and  Baffin  that  Napier  invented  logarithms  and  simplified  the 
processes  of  nautical  calculations. 


LUKE  FOX,  1635. 

The  voyage  of  Luke  Fox  in  1631  developed  some  portions  of  the 
western  shores  of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  he  returned  confident,   1631    Luke 
from  his  observation  of  the  tides  farther  north,  that  they   Fox- 
indicated  a  western  passage ;  and  in  the  same  year  Thomas   Thomas 
James  searched  the  more  southern  limits  of  the  great  bay 
with  no  more  success.      These  voyages  put  a  stay  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  to  efforts  in  this  direction  to  find  the  passage  so  long 
sought. 


652  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

Up  to  1602  the  explorations  of  our  northern  coasts  seem  to  have 
been  ordinarily  made  either  by  a  sweep  northerly  from  Europe,  strik 
ing  Newfoundland  and  then  proceeding  south,  or  by  a  southerly  sweep 
1602  Gos  following  the  Spanish  tracks  and  coasting  north  from  Flor- 
noid.  ida.  In  this  year,  1602,  the  Englishman  Gosnold,  without 

any  earlier  example  that  we  know  of  since  the  time  of  Verrazano, 
stood  directly  to  the  New  England  coast,  and  in  the  accounts  of  his 
voyage  we  begin  to  find  some  particular  knowledge  of  the  contour  of 
this  coast,  which  opens  the  way  to  identifications  of  landmarks.  The 
explorations  of  Pring  (1603),  Champlain  (1604),  Waymouth  (1605), 
Popham  (1607),  Hudson  (1609),  Smith  (1614),  Dermer  (1619),  and 
others  which  followed  are  of  no  more  importance  in  our  present  sur 
vey  than  as  marking  further  stages  of  detailed  geography.  m  Even 
Dermer  was  dreaming  of  a  western  passage  yet  to  be  found  in  this 
region. 

We  must  now  turn  to  follow  the  development  during  the  seventeenth 
century  of  the  discoveries  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Discoveries  a  i_        •        TT-  • 

on  the  Pa-  oebastian  Viscamo,  in  his  voyage  up  the  coast  irom  Aca- 
pulco  in  1602,  sought  the  hidden  straits  as  high  as  42°,  and 
1602.  Vis-  one  of  his  captains  reporting  the  coast  to  trend  easterly  at 
43°,  his  story  confused  the  geography  of  this  region  for 
many  years.  This  supposed  trend  was  held  to  indicate  another  pas 
sage  to  the  Gulf  of  California,  making  the  peninsula  of  that  name  an 
island,  and  so  it  long  remained  on  the  maps,  after  once  getting  pos 
session,  some  years  later  (1622),  of  the  cartographical  fancy. 

Some  explorations  of  the  Dutch  under  De  Vries,  in  1643,  were  the 
1643.  De  source  of  a  notion  later  prevailing,  that  there  was  an  inter- 
vries.  jacent  land  in  the  north  Pacific,  which  they  called  "  Jesso," 

and  which  was  supposed  to  be  separated  by  passages  both  from  Amer 
ica  and  from  Asia  ;  and  for  half  a  century  or  more  the  supposition,  con 
nected  more  or  less  with  a  land  seen  by  Joao  da  Gama,  was  accepted  in 
some  quarters.  Indeed,  this  notion  may  be  said  to  have  not  wholly 
disappeared  till  the  maps  of  Cook's  voyage  came  out  in  1777-78,  when 
the  Aleutian  Islands  got  something  like  their  proper  delineation. 

In  fact,  so  vague  was  the  conception  of  what  might  be  the  easterly 
Confused  ge-  extension  of  the  northern  sea  in  the  latitudinal  forties  that 
notions?/ a  ^ie  n°tion  of  a  sea  something  like  the  old  one  of  Verrazano 
western  sea.  was  even  thought  in  1625  by  Briggs  in  Purchas,  and  again 
in  1651  in  Farrer's  map  of  Virginia,  to  bathe  the  western  slope  of  the 
Alleghanies. 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  even  the  best  cartographers  ran 
1700.  wild  in  their  delineations  of  the  Pacific  coast.  A  series  of 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL   RESULTS. 


653 


multifarious  notions,  arising  from  more  or  less  faith  in   the  alleged 
explorations  of  Maldonado,   Da  Fuca,  and  De  Fonte,  some 
of  them  assumed  to  have  been  made  more  than  a  century    DaFucaf De 
earlier,  filled  the  maps  with  seas  and  straits,  identified  some-  Fonte' 
times  with  the  old  strait  of  Anian,  and  converting  the  northwestern 
parts  of  North  America  into  a  network  of  surmises,  that  look  strangely 
to  our  present  eyes.     Some  of  these  wild  configurations  prevailed  even 
after  the  middle  of  the  century,  but  they  were  finally  eliminated  from 
the  maps  by  the  expedition  of  that  James  Cook  who  first  saw  the  light 
in  a  Yorkshire  cabin  in  1728. 


JESSO.     [After  Hennepin.] 

In  1724  Peter  the  Great  equipped  Vitus  Bering's  first  expedition, 
and  in  December,  1724,  five  weeks  before  his  death,  the   1724    Ber. 
Czar  gave  the  commanding  officer  his  instruction  to  coast   ius- 
northward  and  find  if  the  Asiatic  and  American  coasts  were  continu 
ous,  as  they  were  supposed  to  be.     There  were,  however,  among  the 
Siberians,  some  reports  of  the  dividing  waters  and  of  a  great  land  be 
yond,  and  these  rumors  had  been  prevailing  since  1711.     Peter  the 
Great  died  January  28,  1725  (old  style),  just  as  Bering  was 
beginning  his  journey,  and  not  till  March,  1728,  did  that 
navigator  reach  the  neighborhood  of  the   sea.     In  July  he  spread  his 
sails  on  a  vessel  which  he  had  built.     By  the  middle  of  August  he  had 


654 


CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 


The  Sea  of 
$a  dike  Indies. 


DOMINA  FARRER'S 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


655 


MAP,  1651. 


THE   GEOGRAPHICAL  RESULTS. 


657 


passed  beyond  the  easternmost  point  of  Asia,  and  was  standing  out 
into  the  Arctic  Ocean,  when  he  turned  on  his  track  and  sailed  south. 
Neither  in  going  nor  in  returning  did  he  see  land  to  the  east,  the 
mists  being  too  thick.  He  had  thus  established  the  limits  of  the 
Russian  Empire,  but  he  had  not  as  yet  learned  of  the  close  proximity 
of  the  American  shores.  His  discoveries  did  not  get  any  cartographi- 


BERING'S   STRAITS. 

cal  record  till  Kiriloff  made  his  map  of  Russia  in  1734,  using  the  map 
which  Bering  had  made  in  Moscow  in  1731.     The  follow-   im 
ing  year  (1732),  Gvosdjeff  espied  the  opposite  coast ;  but  it    1741    Ber 
was  not  till  1741  that  Bering  sailed  once  more  from  the   ine- 
Asiatic  side  to  seek  the  American  coast.     He  steered  southeast,  and 
soon  found  that  the  land  seen  by  Da  Gama,  and  which  the  Delisles 
had  so  long  kept  on  their  maps,  did  not  exist  there.     Thence  sailing 
northward,  Bering  sighted  the  coast  in  July  and  had  Mount  St.  Elias 


658  CHRISTOPHER   COLUMBUS. 

before  him,  then  named  by  him  from  that  saint's  day  in  the  calendar. 
Aleutian  ^n  ^s  return  route  some  vague  conception  of  the  Aleutian 
islands.  Islands  was  gained,  the  beginning  of  a  better  cartography, 
in  which  was  also  embodied  the  stretch  of  coast  which  Bering's  asso 
ciate,  Chirikoff,  discovered  farther  east  and  south. 

In  1757  Venegas,  uninformed  as  to  these  Russian  discoveries,  con- 
Northern  fessed  in  his  California  that  nothing  was  really  known  of  the 
Pacific.  coast  line  in  the  higher  latitudes,  —  an  ignorance  that  was 
the  source  of  a  great  variety  of  conjectures,  including  a  large  inland  sea 
of  the  west  connecting  with  the  Pacific,  which  was  not  wholly  discarded 
till  near  the  end  of  the  century,  as  has  already  been  mentioned. 

The  search  for  the  northwest  passage  to  Asia,  as  it  had  been  begun 
The  search  ^v  the  English  under  Cabot  in  1497,  was  also  the  last  of  all 
for  the  the  endeavors  to  isolate  the  continent.  The  creation  of  the 

northwest 

passage.  Hudson  Bay  Company  in  1670  was  ostensibly  to  promote 
"  the  discovery  of  a  new  passage  into  the  South  Sea,"  but  the  world 
knows  how  for  two  centuries  that  organization  obstinately  neglected, 
or  as  far  as  they  dared,  the  leading  purpose  for  which  they  pretended 
to  ask  a  charter.  They  gave  their  well-directed  energies  to  the  amass 
ing  of  fortunes  with  as  much  persistency  as  the  Spaniards  did  at  the 
south,  but  with  this  difference  :  that  the  wisdom  in  their  employment  of 
the  aborigines  was  as  eminent  as  with  the  Southrons  it  was  lacking. 
It  was  left  for  other  agencies  of  the  British  government  successfully  to 
accomplish,  with  the  aid  of  the  votaries  of  geographical  science,  what 
the  pecuniary  speculators  of  Fen  Church  Street  hardly  dared  to  con 
template. 

The  spirit  of  the  old  navigators  was  revived  in  James  Cook,  when 
1779.  James  *n  1779  he  endeavored  to  pass  eastward  by  Bering's  Straits  ; 
Cook.  but  ft  was  not  till  forty  years  later  that  a  series  of  arctic 

explorations  was  begun,  in  which  the  English  races  of  both  continents 
have  shown  so  conspicuous  a  skill  and  fortitude. 

While  the  English,  French,  and  Spaniards  were  dodging  one  another 
in  their  exploring  efforts  along  this  upper  coast,  a  Boston 
ship,  the  "  Columbia,"  under  Captain  Kendrick,  entered  the 


Columbia  River,  then  named  ;  and  to  these  American  explo 
rations,  as  well  as  to  the  contemporary  ones  of  Vancouver,  the  geo 
graphical  confusion  finally  yielded  place  to  something  like  an  intelligi 
ble  idea. 

It  had  also  been  the  aim  of  Vancouver  in  1790-95  "  to  ascertain 
1790-95  tne  existence  of  any  navigable  communication  between  the 
Vancouver.  North  Pacific  and  the  North  Atlantic  Oceans,"  and  the  cor 
respondence  of  the  British  government  leading  to  this  expedition  has 


660  CHRISTOPHER    COLUMBUS. 

only  been  lately  printed  in  the  Report  of  the  Dominion  archivist, 
Douglas  Brymner,  for  1889. 

The  names  of  Barrow,  Ross,  Parry,  and  Franklin,  not  to  mention 
Arctic  ex-  others  of  a  later  period,  make  the  story  of  the  final  sever- 
piorers.  ance  of  the  continent  in  the  arctic  seas  one  of  conspicuous 
interest  in  the  history  of  maritime  exploration.  Captain  Robert  L. 
McClure,  in  the  "  Investigator,"  late  in  1850  passed  into  Bering's 
1850  MC-  Straits,  and  before  September  closed  his  ship  was  bound  in 
Slenortlf8  ^e  *c6'  ^n  Oct°ber  McClure  made  a  sledge  journey  east- 
west  pas-  erly  over  a  frozen  channel  and  reached  the  open  sea,  which 
thirty  years  before  Parry  had  passed  into  from  the  Atlantic 
side.  The  northwest  passage  was  at  last  discovered. 

We  have  seen  that  within  thirty  years  from  the  death  of  Columbus 
the  outline  of  South  America  was  defined,  while  it  had  taken  nearly 
two  centuries  and  a  quarter  to  free  the  coast  lines  of  the  New  World 
from  an  entanglement  in  men's  minds  with  the  outlines  of  eastern 
Asia,  and  another  century  and  a  quarter  were  required  to  complete 
the  arctic  contour  of  America,  so  that  the  New  World  at  last  should 
stand  a  wholly  revealed  and  separate  continent. 

Nor  had  all  this  labor  been  done  by  governments  alone.  The  pri 
vate  merchant  and  the  individual  adventurer,  equipping  ships  and  sail 
ing  without  national  help,  had  done  no  small  part  of  it.  Dr.  Kohl 
strikingly  says,  "  The  extreme  northern  limit  of  America,  the  desolate 
peninsula  Boothia,  is  named  after  the  English  merchant  who  fitted  out 
the  arctic  expedition  of  Sir  John  Ross ;  and  the  southernmost  strait, 
beyond  Patagonia,  preserves  the  name  of  Le  Maire,  the  merchant  at 
whose  charge  it  was  disclosed  to  the  world  !  " 

On  pp.  554,  622,  and  625,  ante,  it  is  said  that  the  Mercator  globe  of  1541 
is  the  earliest  to  apply  the  name  America  to  the  two  continents  together. 
Harrisse  has  just  (1892)  brought  to  notice  a  wooden  globe,  found  in  Venice, 
and  now  transferred  to  the  great  library  at  Paris,  on  which  the  name  is 
given  both  on  the  north  and  south  continent.  He  judges  from  the  caligraphy 
of  its  delineations  —  not  always  a  trustworthy  test  —  that  it  was  made  in  the 
first  quarter  of  the  16th  century.  If  this  is  allowed,  it  antedates  the  map 
of  1541 ;  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  Mercator,  in  his  map  of  1538 
(p.  623),  had  confined  the  name  to  the  southern  continent.  The  fact  still 
remains  that  the  published  globe  of  1541  first  made  popularly  known  the 
joint  application. 


INDEX. 


ACKLIN  ISLAND,  215. 

Adam  of  Bremen,  147. 

Adda,  G.  d',  12. 

Admiral's  map,  534,  546,  581.  See 
Waldseemiiller. 

Africa,  circumnavigations  of,  91 ;  dis 
coveries  along  its  coast,  91,  151 ; 
early  maps,  133 ;  Ptolemy's  map  of 
its  southern  part,  335. 

Agnese  Baptista,  his  maps,  595,  597- 

Aguado,  Juan,  sent  to  Espaiiola,  317  ; 
his  conduct,  319. 

Ailly,  Pierre  d',  De  Imagine  Mundi, 
7,  8,  121,  180,  497 ;  his  map  (1410), 
601. 

Albertus  Magnus,  497 ;  portrait,  120. 

Aleutian  Islands,  652,  658. 

Alexander  VI.,  letter  to,  from  Colum 
bus,  9  ;  pope,  252  ;  his  bull  of  demar 
cation,  252  ;  his  bust,  253. 

Alfonso  V.  (Portugal),  108. 

Aliacus.    See  Ailly. 

Allefonsce,  614. 

Allegetto  degli  Allegetti,  Ephemerides, 
32. 

Almagro,  565. 

Alto  Velo,  300. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  514,  515. 

Amazons,  235,  237. 

America,  mainland  first  seen  by  Colum 
bus,  351 ;  gradually  developed  as  a 
continent,  529,  606,  619,  660  ;  history 
of  its  name,  538,  621 ;  earliest  maps 
bearing  the  name,  547-552  ;  the  name 
never  recognized  in  Spain,  554 ;  ear 
liest  on  maps,  581 ;  was  it  known  to 
the  ancients?  606.  See  North  and 
South  America. 

Anacaona,  305  ;  entertains  Bartholomew 
Columbus,  361 ;  captured,  473. 

Ancuparius,  588. 

Angelus,  Jacobus.  531. 

Ango,  Jean,  556. 

Anian,  Straits  of,  418,  620. 

Antarctic  continent,  628,  644. 

Antillia,  belief  in.  111,  112,  128. 

Apianus,  his  map  (1520),  550,  587; 
portrait,  586. 


Archipelago  on  the  Asiatic  coast,  190. 

Arctic  explorations,  640,  658,  659,  660. 

Asia,  as  known  to  Marco  Polo,  etc., 
map,  113,  114. 

Aspa,  Ant.  de,  his  documents,  29. 

Astrolabe,  94-96,  132, 150,  260,  632. 

Atlantic  Ocean,  early  cartography  of, 
86,  88;  floating  islands  in,  185;  its 
archipelago,  185 ;  as  defined  by  Be- 
haim  compared  with  its  actual  con 
dition,  190 ;  early  voyages  on,  603. 

Atlantis,  story  of,  126. 

Aubert,  Thomas,  556. 

Audiencia,  518. 

Avila,  Luis  de,  527. 

Ayala,  Pedro  de,  343. 

Ayllon,  Lucas  Vasquez  de,  561 ;  and 
Diego  Colon,  522 ;  his  map,  561,  584 ; 
settlement  on  the  Potomac,  561. 

Azores  discovered,  86,  88. 

Babeque,  225,  230,  231. 

Baccalaos,  344. 

Back-staff,  648. 

Bacon,  Roger,  Opus  majus,  121,  497. 

Badajos,  congress  at,  590. 

Baffin,  Wm.,  650. 

Baffin's  Bay,  651. 

Bahamas,  Herrera's  map,  212  ;  modern 
map,  213 ;  character  of,  215 ;  their 
peoples,  218  ;  depopulated,  515. 

Balboa,  562;  portrait,  563;  discovers 
the  South  Sea,  564,  606;  executed, 
564. 

Ballester,  Miguel,  366,  372. 

Bancroft,  H.  H.,  on  Columbus,  59,  503. 

Bank  of  St.  George,  and  its  records,  21, 
70. 

Barclay,  Alex.,  translates  Brant,  537. 

Barlow,  S.  L.  M.,  his  library,  17. 

Barrentes,  Garcia  de,  372. 

Barros,  Joao  de.  Decada,  33,  149,  241. 

Bastidas,  Rodrigo  de,  on  the  South 
American  coast,  426,  528. 

Basques  on  the  Atlantic,  128;  fisher 
men,  340. 

Baza,  siege  of,  169. 

Behaini,  Martin,   in  Lisbon,   132 ;    im- 


662 


INDEX. 


proves  the  astrolabe,  132  ;  at  sea,  134 ; 
portrait,  134 ;  and  Columbus,  150 ; 
his  globe,  185-188,  533. 

Behechio,  305,  361. 

Belknap,  Dr.  Jeremy,  on  Columbus,  55. 

Belloy,  Marquis  de,  life  of  Columbus, 
54. 

Beneventanus,  533. 

Benincasa,  maps,  81. 

Benzoni,  32,  51. 

Beradi,  Juonato,  258,  317. 

Bergenroth,  Calendar,  13,  23. 

Bergomas,  his  chronicle,  32. 

Bering's  Straits,  418,  657. 

Bering,  his  discoveries,  529,  620,  653. 

Bernaldez,  Andres,  friend  of  Columbus, 
13,  331 ;  Historia,  13,  18,  37. 

Berwick,  Duke  of,  527.  t 

Be"thencourt,  Jean  de,  86. 

Bianco,  Andrea,  his  map,  88,  89  ;  helps 
Fra  Mauro,  100. 

Bienewitz.     See  Apianus. 

Bimini,  422,  558,  560. 

Birds,  flight  of,  88. 

Blanco,  Cape,  passed,  98. 

Bloodhounds,  312. 

Blunderville,  632. 

Bobadilla,  Francisco  de,  sent  to  Santo 
Domingo,  390;  his  character,  395; 
his  instructions,  396,  397 ;  reaches 
Espafiola,  398 ;  his  acts,  398 ;  their 
effect  upon  Columbus,  400 ;  arrests 
Bastidas,  426  ;  his  rule  in  Santo  Do 
mingo,  428 ;  superseded,  429 ;  to  re 
turn  to  Spain,  440 ;  lost,  440. 

Bohio,  228. 

Bojador,  Cape,  passed,  97. 

Bordone,  map,  142. 

Bossi,  L.,  on  Columbus,  32. 

Bourne,  Wm.,  The  Regiment  of  the  Sea, 
631. 

Boyle.     See  Buil. 

Brandt,  Shyppe  of  Fools,  14. 

Brazil  coast  visited  by  Cabral,  378; 
early  explorers,  533. 

Brazil,  island  of,  112,  139. 

Breton  explorations,  555,  556. 

Breviesca,  Ximeno  de,  333. 

Brevoort,  J.  C.,  597,  607,  621. 

Briggs  in  Purchas,  652. 

Bristol,  England,  and  its  maritime  expe 
ditions,  342. 

Brocken,  Baron  van,  Colomb,  55. 

Brymner,  Douglas,  660. 

Buache,  his  map,  656. 

Biidinger,  Max,  Aden  zur  Columbus 
Geschichte,  46 ;  Zur  Columbus  Litera- 
tur,  46. 

Buet,  C.,  Colomb,  54. 

Buil,  Bernardo,  sent  to  the  New  World, 
259. 

Bull  of  demarcation,  22, 252,  339. 

Bull  of  extension,  305. 


Button,  Sir  Thomas,  650. 
Bylot,  Robert,  650. 

Cabot,  John,  in  England,  167,  340  ;  sails 
on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  340  ;  earli 
est  engraved  map  of  his  discoveries, 
341 ;  great  circle  sailing,  341 ;  dis 
covers  land,  341 ;  question  of  his  land 
fall,  341;  returns  to  Bristol,  342; 
question  of  his  going  to  Seville,  343  ; 
his  second  voyage,  344 ;  its  extent, 
344;  lack  of  knowledge  respecting 
these  voyages,  345 ;  authorities  on, 
346 ;  was  his  voyage  known  to  Colum 
bus  ?  386 ;  and  the  Ruysch  map,  533 ; 
his  explorations,  624. 

Cabot,  Sebastian,  his  observation  of  the 
line  of  no  variation,  201 ;  on  Colum 
bus' s  discovery,  248 ;  his  participancy 
in  his  father's  voyages,  344  ;  his  pa 
pers,  345 ;  alleged  voyage,  427 ;  voy 
ages,  555 ;  his  mappemonde,  341,  345, 
624,  626,  627;  returns  to  England, 
639 ;  portrait,  642. 

Cabral,  Pedro  Alvarez,  on  the  South 
American  coast,  377. 

Cabrero,  Juan,  161. 

Cabrillo,  611. 

Cacique,  231. 

Cadamosto,  his  voyage,  98. 

Cado,  Fermin,  285. 

California,  peninsula  of,  610 ;  its  name, 
611 ;  map,  611  ;  mapped  as  an  island, 
652  ;  Drake  on  the  coast,  644,  645. 

Cam,  Diogo,  134. 

Camargo  on  the  coast  of  Chili,  577. 

Gamers,  Johann,  585. 

Canaries,  their  history,  86  ;  map  of,  194. 

Cannibals,  225, 227, 230,  268,  270, 281. 

Canoes,  219. 

Cantino,  Alberto,  417;  Cantino  map, 
387;  sketched,  419;  its  traits  ex 
amined,  420 ;  its  relation  with  Colum 
bus,  421. 

Caonabo,  305  :  attacks  LaNavidad,  273, 
275 ;  attacks  St.  Thomas,  308 ;  forms  a 
league,  308;  captured,  313 ;  dies,  323. 

Cape  Blanco,  98. 

Cape  Bojador,  97. 

Cape  Breton,  627. 

Cape  of  Good  Hope  discovered,  151. 

Cape  Horn  discovered,  577;  seen  by 
Drake,  644. 

Cape  Race,  534. 

Cape  Verde  Island  discovered,  199. 

Cardenas,  Alonso  de,  161. 

Cardona,  Cristoval  de,  Admiral  of  Ara- 
gon,  524,  526,  527. 

Caribs,  236,  271,  323. 

Carpini,  Piano,  90. 

Carthaginians  as  voyagers,  127. 

Carrier,  Jacques,  his  explorations,  612^ 
624 


INDEX. 


663 


Carvajal,  Alonso  Sanchez  de,  factor  of 
Columbus,  430. 

Carvajal,  Bernardin  de,  248. 

Casa  de  Contratacion,  481. 

Casaneuve.     See  Colombo  the  Corsair. 

Casanove,  71. 

Casoni,  F.,  annals  of  Genoa,  32,  154. 

Casteneda,  Juan  de,  238. 

Castellanos,  Elegias,  491. 

Castillo,  611. 

Catalan  seamanship,  94. 

Catalina,  Dona,  9,  276. 

Cathay,  224,  457 ;  early  name  of  China, 
90;  map  of,  113,  114;  as  found  by 
the  Portuguese,  509. 

Cazadilla,  150. 

Chanca,  Dr.,  his  narrative,  29;  goes  to 
the  new  world,  262,  282. 

Charles  V.,  portrait,  519. 

Chaves,  Alonso,  his  map,  561,  621  ;  at 
the  Seville  Conference,  604. 

Chesapeake  Bay,  Spaniards  in  the,  633. 

Chili  discovered,  565,  577. 

China,  early  known,  90.     See  Cathay. 

Chronica  Delphinea,  9,  11. 

Chronometers,  260,  603. 

Chytrams,  627. 

Cibao,  232 ;  its  mines  visited  by  Ojeda, 
279. 

Ciguare,  447. 

Cipango,  125 ;  map,  113. 

Circourt,  Count,  46. 

Clavus,  Claudius,  140,  141. 

Clemente,  Claudio,  Tablas,  214, 

Climatic  lines,  601. 

Codex  Flatoyensis,  146. 

Coelho's  voyage,  410. 

Colombo,  Balthazar,  525,  527. 

Colombo,  Bernardo,  525,  527. 

Colombo,  Corsair,  71,  72,  83,  84. 

Colon,  Cristoval  (bastard  son  of  Luis, 
grandson  of  Columbus),  526. 

Colon,  Diego  (brother  of  Columbus), 
born,  77  ;  in  Spain  and  in  Colum 
bus' s  second  expedition,  262  ;  his 
character,  285  ;  placed  by  Columbus 
in  command  at  Isabella,  290  ;  goes 
to  Spain,  311 ;  quarrels  with  Fonseca, 
318. 

Colon,  Diego  (son  of  Columbus),  106; 
page  to  the  Queen,  181  ;  at  Court, 
478,  479 ;  receives  letter  from  Colum 
bus,  478 ;  his  illegitimate  children, 
513  ;  receives  what  was  due  to  his  fa 
ther,  513 ;  urges  the  King  to  restore 
his  father's  privileges,  513  ;  his  suit 
against  the  Crown,  514,  553  ;  wins, 
515 ;  marriage,  515  ;  denied  the  title 
of  Viceroy,  515;  Governor  of  Espa 
nola,  515,  516  ;  in  Spain,  519 ;  lends 
money  to  Charles  V.,  520;  his  in 
come,  520 ;  Viceroy,  520 ;  builds  a 
palace,  520  ;  its  ruins,  520 ;  in  Spain 


Eressing  his  claims,   522  ;  dies,  522 ; 
is  children,  522. 

Colon,  Diego  (great-grandson  of  Co 
lumbus),  marries  and  becomes  Duke 
of  Veragua,  525,  526  ;  his  connection 
with  the  Historic  of  1571,  44. 

Colon,  Luis  (grandson  of  Columbus), 
succeeds  his  father,  522  ;  makes  com 
promise  with  the  Crown,  522 ;  holds 
Jamaica,  523;  made  Duke  of  Vera 
gua,  523 ;  governs  Espanola,  523  ;  his 
marriages,  523 ;  imprisoned  and  dies, 
523  ;  his  children,  526. 

Colon.     See  Columbus. 

Columbia  River,  658. 

Columbus,  Bartholomew  (brother  of 
Columbus),  born,  77 ;  in  Portugal, 
104;  affects  Columbus's  views,  117; 
with  Diaz  on  the  African  coast,  151, 
303 ;  sent  to  England,  167,  303,  339 ; 
in  France,  168,  303;  reaches  Espa- 
fiola,  303 ;  made  Adelantado,  304 ;  left 
in  command  by  Columbus,  323  ;  con 
firmed  by  the  Crown  as  Adelantado, 
328;  portrait,  329;  attacks  the  Qui- 
bian,  451  ;  sees  Columbus  for  the  last 
time,  488  ;  survives  him,  513 ;  goes 
to  Rome,  516  ;  takes  a  map,  516,  533  ; 
goes  to  Espanola,  516  ;  dies,  518 ;  re 
puted  descendant,  527. 

COLUMBUS,  CHRISTOPHER,  sources  of 
information,  1  ;  biographers,  30 ;  his 
prolixitj7  and  confusion,  1  ;  his  writ 
ings,  1 ;  Libro  de  las  Prqficias,  1 ; 
facsimile  of  his  handwriting,  2  ;  his 
private  papers,  2  ;  letters,  2,  5  ;  writ 
ten  in  Spanish,  2  ;  his  privileges,  3 ; 
Codex  Diplomaticus,  3 ;  the  Custodia 
at  Genoa,  4,  5  ;  Bank  of  St.  George, 
5  ;  marginalia,  7  ;  Declaration  de  Ta- 
bla  navigatoria,  7,  32  ;  Cinco  Zonas,  7 ; 
lost  manuscripts,  8  ;  MS.  annotations, 
8 ;  missing  letters,  9,  18, 19  ;  missing 
commentary,  9 ;  journal  of  his  first  voy 
age,  9,  193;  printed  in  English,  10; 
letters  on  his  discovery,  10 ;  printed 
editions,  12 ;  Catalan  text,  13 ;  Latin 
text,  14 ;  his  transient  fame,  14  ;  in 
England,  14  ;  autographs,  14 ;  edition 
of  the  Latin  first  letter,  15 ;  facsimile 
of  a  page,  16;  libraries  possessing 
copies,  17  ;  bibliography  of  first  let 
ter,  17 ;  other  accounts  of  first  voyage, 
17;  lawsuits  of  heirs,  18,  26,  514; 
account  of  his  second  voyage,  18,  264  ; 
Libro  del  Segundo  Viage,  18,  264 ;  let 
ters  owned  by  the  Duke  de  Veragua, 
18 ;  accounts  of  his  third  voyage,  18, 
347  ;  of  his  fourth  voyage,  19 ;  Let- 
tera  rarissima,  19 ;  Libros  de  memo- 
n'as,  19 ;  work  on  the  Arctic  Pole,  19; 
his  maps,  20;  Memorial  del  Pleyto, 


664 


INDEX. 


26 ;  Italian  accounts  of,  30 ;  influenced 
by  his  Spanish  life,  33 ;  Portuguese 
accounts,  33  ;  Spanish  accounts,  33 ; 
documents  preserved  by  Las  Casas, 
47 ;  canonization,  52 ;  English  ac 
counts,  55 ;  life  by  Irving,  56 ;  bibli 
ography,  59 ;  his  portraits,  61-70  ;  his 
person,  61 ;  tomb  at  Havana,  69  ;  his 
promise  to  the  Bank  of  St.  George, 
5,  70 ;  ancestry,  71 ;  early  home,  71 ; 
name  of  Colombo,  71 ;  the  French 
family,  71 ;  professes  he  was  not  the 
first  admiral  of  his  name,  72  ;  spurious 
genealogies,  73,  74 ;  prevalence  of  the 
name  Colombo,  73 ;  his  grandfather, 
74;  his  father,  74;  life  at  Savona, 
75;  Genoa,  75;  his  birth,  76;  dis 
puted  date,  76 ;  his  mother,  77 ;  her 
offspring,  77  ;  place  of  his  birth,  77 ; 
many  claimants,  78;  uncertainties  of 
his  early  life,  79 ;  his  early  education, 
79 ;  his  penmanship  and  drawing,  79 ; 
specimen  of  it,  80 ;  said  to  have  been 
at  Pavia,  79 ;  at  Genoa,  81 ;  in  An- 
jou's  expedition,  83  ;  his  youth  at  sea, 
83  ;  drawn  to  Portugal,  86,  102 ;  liv 
ing  there,  103 ;  alleged  swimming 
with  an  oar,  103  ;  marries,  105 ;  sup 
posed  interview  with  a  sailor  who  had 
sailed  west,  107 ;  knew  Marco  Polo's 
book,  116;  Mandeville's  book,  116; 
the  ground  of  his  belief  in  a  western 
passage,  117 ;  inherits  his  views  of 
the  sphericity  of  the  earth,  119;  of 
its  size,  123 ;  his  ignorance  of  the 
Atlantis  story,  etc.,  126,  148;  learns 
of  western  lands,  129 ;  in  Portugal, 
131 ;  in  Iceland,  135  ;  Tratado  de  las 
Cinco  Zonas,  137 ;  and  the  Sagas,  146 ; 
his  first  gratuity  in  Spain,  149 ;  diffi 
culty  in  following  his  movements, 
149 ;  interviews  the  Portuguese  king, 
150;  abandons  Portugal,  149,  153; 
did  he  lay  his  project  before  the  au 
thorities  of  Genoa  ?  153  ;  did  he  pro 
pose  to  those  of  Venice  ?  154 ;  did  he 
leave  a  wife  in  Portugal  ?  154 ;  enters 
Spain.  154,  157,  169  ;  at  Rabida,  154, 
173  ;  calls  himself  Colon,  157 ;  re 
ceives  gratuities,  157, 168;  sells  books 
and  maps,  158  ;  writes  out  his  proofs 
of  a  new  world,  158 ;  interview  with 
Ferdinand  of  Spain,  159 ;  his  monu 
ment  at  Genoa,  163  ;  at  Malaga,  165  ; 
connection  with  Beatrix  Enriquez, 
166;  his  son  Ferdinand  born,  166; 
•his  views  in  England,  167 ;  invited 
•back  to  Portugal,  168  ;  lived  in  Spain 
with  the  Duke  of  Medina-Celi,  169; 
at  Cordova,  169;  at  Baza,  169;  his 
views  again  rejected,  170;  at  Santa 
Fe",  176 ;  his  arrogant  demands,  177  ; 
.starts  for  France,  177 ;  recalled  and 


agreed  with,  179;  his  passport,  180; 
the  capitulations,  181 ;  allowed  to  use 
Don,  181 ;  at  Palos,  181 ;  his  fleet 
fitted  out,  182;  expenses  of  the  first 
voyage.  183 ;  his  flag-ship,  183  ;  her 
size,  184;  hopes  to  find  mid-ocean 
islands,  185  ;  sails,  191  ;  keeps  a  jour 
nal,  193;  the  "Pinta"  disabled,  195; 
sees  Teneriffe,  195 ;  at  the  Canaries, 
195 ;  falsifies  his  reckoning,  195 ; 
map  of  the  routes  of  his  four  voyages, 
196 ;  of  the  first  voyage,  197 ;  his 
dead  reckoning,  198 ;  his  judgment 
of  his  speed,  198  ;  observes  no  varia 
tion  of  his  needle,  198  ;  watches  the 
stars,  203  ;  believed  the  earth  pear- 
shaped,  203  ;  meets  a  west  wind,  205  ; 
thinks  he  sees  land,  206,;  follows  the 
flight  of  birds,  206  ;  pacifies  his  crew, 
207 ;  alleged  mutiny,  208 ;  claims  to 
see  a  light,  208 ;  receives  a  reward  for 
first  seeing  land,  209,  249;  map  of 
the  landfall,  210 ;  land  actually  seen, 
211  ;  land  taken  possession  of,  211  ; 
his  armor,  211 ;  question  of  his  land 
fall,  214;  trades  with  the  natives, 
218,  220 ;  first  intimates  his  intention 
to  enslave  them,  220 ;  finds  other  isl- 
lands,  220 ;  eager  to  find  gold,  221 ; 
reaches  Cuba,  223 ;  mentions  pearls 
for  the  first  time,  223 ;  thought  him 
self  on  the  coast  of  Cathay,  224; 
takes  an  observation,  224  ;  meets  with 
tobacco,  225 ;  with  potatoes,  225 ; 
hears  of  cannibals,  225 ;  seeks  Ba- 
beque,  225  ;  difficult  communication 
with  the  natives,  226,  227;  in  the 
King's  Garden,  226  ;  deserted  by  Pin- 
zon,  226  ;  at  Espaflola,  228 ;  takes  his 
latitude,  229;  entertains  a  cacique, 
231  ;  meets  with  a  new  language,  232 ; 
seeks  gold,  232  ;  shipwrecked,  232  ; 
builds  a  fort,  233  ;  names  it  La  Na- 
vidad,  235  ;  hears  of  Jamaica,  235 ; 
of  Amazons,  235  ;  fears  the  Pinzons, 
235  ;  sees  mermaids,  236 ;  sails  for 
Spain,  236  ;  meets  a  gale,  237 ;  sepa 
rates  from  the  "Pinta,"  237;  throws 
overboard  an  account  of  his  discov 
eries,  238 ;  makes  land  at  the  Azores, 
238 ;  gets  provisions,  238 ;  his  men 
captured  on  shore,  139 ;  again  at  sea, 
240;  enters  the  Tagus,  240;  reason 
for  using  the  name  Indies,  240 ;  goes 
to  the  Portuguese  Court,  241 ;  leaves 
the  Tagus,  having  sent  a  letter  to  the 
Spanish  Court,  242 ;  reaches  Palos, 
242;  the  "  Pinta  "  arrives  the  same 
day,  242,  244 ;  his  Indians,  244,  259, 
272;  summoned  to  Court,  244;  at 
Barcelona,  245;  reception,  245;  his 
life  there,  246,  247,  249,  256;  his 
first  letter,  248;  scant  impression 


INDEX. 


665 


made  by  the  announcement,  248  ;  the 
egg  story,  249 ;  receives  a  coat-of- 
arms,  249,  550 ;  his  family  arms, 
251 ;  his  motto,  251  ;  receives  the 
royal  seal,  250 ;  leaves  the  Court, 
256 ;  in  Seville,  250  ;  relations  with 
Fonseca  begin,  250  ;  fits  out  the  sec 
ond  expedition,  257,  258,  261 ;  em 
barks,  203  ;  sails,  264 ;  his  character, 
205 ;  at  the  Canaries,  265  ;  at  Domi 
nica,  200  ;  at  Marigalante,  206  ;  at 
Guadaloupe,  2(58  ;  fights  the  Caribs, 
at  Santa  Cruz,  271  ;  reaches  Espailola, 
272  ;  arrives  at  La  Navidad,  273 ;  finds 
it  destroyed  and  abandons  it,  275, 
277;  disembarks  at  another  harbor, 
278 ;  founds  Isabella,  278  ;  grows  ill, 
279;  expeditions  to  seek  gold,  279, 
280 ;  writes  to  the  sovereigns,  280 ; 
the  fleet  leaves  him,  282 ;  harassed 
by  factions,  284  ;  leads  an  expedition 
inland,  285  ;  builds  Fort  St.  Thomas, 
287  ;  returns  to  Isabella,  288  ;  sends 
Ojeda  to  St.  Thomas,  289 ;  sails  to 
explore  Cuba,  290 ;  discovers  Jamaica, 
291 ;  returns  to  Cuba,  293  ;  imagines 
his  approach  to  the  Golden  Chersone- 
sus,  295 ;  exacts  an  oath  from  his  men 
that  they  were  in  Asia,  296  ;  doubts  as 
to  his  own  belief,  297  ;  return  voyage, 
299 ;  on  the  Jamaica  coast,  300 ;  cal 
culates  his  longitude  on  the  Espanola 
coast,  301 ;  falls  into  a  stupor,  302 ; 
reaches  Isabella,  302  ;  finds  his  brother 
Bartholomew  there,  303  ;  learns  what 
had  happened  in  his  absence,  304 ; 
receives  supplies,  309  ;  sends  the  fleet 
back,  310  ;  sends  Diego  to  Spain,  311 ; 
sends  natives  as  slaves,  311 ;  battle  of 
the  Vega  Real,  312  ;  oppresses  the 
natives,  315 ;  his  enemies  in  Spain, 
318  ;  receives  a  royal  letter  by  Agua- 
do,  319;  the  fleet  wrecked,  321; 
thinks  the  mines  of  Hayna  the  Ophir 
of  Solomon,  322  ;  sails  for  Spain,  323  ; 
reaches  Cadiz,  324  ;  lands  in  the  garb 
of  a  Franciscan,  325 ;  proceeds  to 
Court,  326 ;  asks  for  a  new  fleet, 
326;  delays,  327;  his  rights  reaf 
firmed,  328  ;  new  proportion  of  prof 
its,  328 ;  his  will,  330 ;  his  signature, 
330 ;  lives  with  Andres  Bernaldez, 
331  ;  his  character  drawn  by  Bernal 
dez,  331  ;  enlists  criminals,  332  ;  his 
altercation  with  Fonseca' s  agent,  333  ; 
had  authorized  voyages,  336 ;  the 
third  voyage  and  its  sources,  347 ; 
leaves  directions  for  his  son  Diego, 

348  ;   sails  from  San  Lucar,  348  ;  his 
course,  348  ;  letter  to  him  from  Jayme 
Ferrer,  349  ;   captures  a  French  prize, 

349  ;  at  the  Cape  de  Verde  Islands, 
349  ;  at  Trinidad,  350  ;  first  sees  main 


land,  351 ;  touches  the  Gulf  Stream, 
352 ;  grows  ill,  355,  356 ;  his  geo 
graphical  delusions,  350 ;  compared 
with  Vespucius,  358  ;  observations  of 
nature,  359  ;  meets  the  Adelantado, 
359 ;  reaches  Santo  Domingo,  305 ; 
his  experience  with  convict  settlers, 
366,  392,  396,  434;  sends  letters  to 
Spain,  367  ;  treats  with  Roldan,  368, 
370  ;  institutes  repartimientos,  371 ; 
sends  other  ships  to  Spain,  371 ;  his 
prerogatives  as  Admiral  infringed, 
372 ;  sends  Roldan  against  Ojeda, 
374  ;  did  he  know  of  Cabot's  voyage  ? 
386  ;  his  wrongs  from  furtive  voyagers, 
372-387  ;  opposition  to  his  rule  in  the 
Antilles,  388 ;  his  new  relations  with 
Roldan,  389  ;  quells  Moxica's  plot, 
390  ;  Bobadilla  arrives,  390 ;  charges 
against  the  Admiral,  392,  402,  404 ; 
his  deceiving  the  Crown,  393 ;  re 
ceives  copies  of  Bobadilla's  instruc 
tions,  400 ;  reaches  Santo  Domingo, 
401 ;  imprisoned  and  fettered,  401 ; 
sent  to  Spain  in  chains,  403 ;  his  let 
ter  to  Prince  Juan's  nurse,  404,  405, 
407 ;  his  alienation  of  mind,  405 ; 
reaches  Cadiz,  407 ;  his  reception, 
408,  409 ;  suspended  from  power, 
409 ;  his  connection  with  the  Cantino 
map,  420,  421 ;  his  destitution,  420  ; 
his  vested  rights  invaded,  428;  his 
demands  unheeded,  428 ;  sends  a  fac 
tor  to  Espanola,  430  ;  Libros  de  las 
Proficias,  431  ;  his  projected  con 
quest  of  the  Holy  Land,  431 ;  de 
feated  by  Satan,  431  ;  dreams  on  a 
hidden  channel  through  the  new 
world,  432  ;  still  seeking  the  Great 
Khan,  433 ;  h-is  purposed  gift  to  Ge 
noa,  434  ;  writes  to  the  Bank  of  St. 
George,  435  ;  his  fourth  voyage,  437  ; 
his  mental  and  physical  condition, 
437 ;  at  Martinico,  438 ;  touches  at 
the  forbidden  Santo  Domingo,  438  ; 
but  is  denied  the  port,  439 ;  his  ships 
ride  out  a  gale,  441  ;  on  the  Hondu 
ras  coast,  441  ;  meets  a  large  canoe, 
442 ;  says  mass  on  the  land,  442  ;  on 
the  Veragua  coast,  445 ;  touches  the 
region  tracked  by  Bastidas,  448  ;  sees 
a  waterspout,  449;  returns  to  Vera 
gua,  450 ;  finds  the  gold  mines  of 
Solomon,  450 ;  plans  settlement  at 
Veragua,  451  ;  dangers,  451 ;  has  a 
fever,  453  ;  hears  a  voice,  454 ;  the 
colony  rescued,  450  ;  sails  away,  456 ; 
abandons  one  caravel,  457  ;  on  the 
Cuban  coast,  457 ;  goes  to  Jamaica, 
457 ;  strands  his  ships,  458 ;  sends 
Mendez  to  Ovando,  458,  461 ;  writes 
a  letter  to  his  sovereigns,  459 ;  Lettera 
rarissima,  459;  his  worship  of  gold, 


666 


INDEX. 


461 ;  the  revolt  of  Porras,  462  ;  Por- 
ras  sails  away,  464;  but  returns  to 
the  island  and  wanders  about,  464 ; 
predicts  an  eclipse  of  the  moon,  465  ; 
Escobar  arrives,  467  ;  and  leaves,  468 ; 
negotiations  with  Porras,  468 ;  fight 
between  the  rebels  and  the  Adelan- 
tado,  469 ;  Porras  captured,  469 ;  the 
rebels  surrender,  470 ;  Mendez  sends 
to  rescue  him,  470  ;  leaves  Jamaica, 
471 ;  learns  of  events  in  Espafiola 
during  his  absence,  472  ;  reaches  Santo 
Domingo,  475  ;  relations  with  Ovan- 
do,  475 ;  sails  for  Spain,  475  ;  arrives, 
476;  in  Seville,  477;  his  letters  at 
this  time,  477  ;  his  appeals,  477 ;  fears 
Porras,  478,  479  ;  appeals  to  Mendez, 
479 ;  his  increasing  malady,  480 ; 
sends  a  narrative  to  Rome,  482  ;  suf 
fered  to  ride  on  a  mule,  483  ;  relations 
with  the  Bank  of  St.  George  in  Ge 
noa,  483 ;  his  privileges,  484 ;  doubt 
ful  reference  to  Fonseca,  484;  later 
relations  with  Vespucius,  484;  his 
property  sold,  486 ;  goes  to  Segovia, 
486 ;  Deza  asked  to  arbitrate,  486 ; 
makes  a  will,  487 ;  at  Salamanca,  487 ; 
at  Valladolid,  488;  seeks  to  propi 
tiate  Juana,  488 ;  makes  a  codicil  to 
his  will,  488;  its  doubtful  character, 
488 ;  ratifies  his  will,  489  ;  its  pro 
visions,  489 ;  dies,  490 ;  his  death 
unnoticed,  491 ;  later  distich  pro 
posed  for  his  tomb,  491 ;  successive 
places  of  interment,  491  ;  his  bones 
removed  to  Santo  Domingo,  492 ;  to 
Havana,  492  ;  controversy  over  their 
present  position,  492  ;  his  chains,  494  ; 
the  age  of  Columbus,  494 ;  statue  at 
Santo  Domingo,  495 ;  his  character, 
his  dependence  on  the  Imago  Mundi, 
497 ;  on  other  authors,  498  ;  relations 
with  Toscanelli,  499  ;  different  delin 
eations  of  his  character,  501  ;  his  ob 
servations  of  nature,  502;  his  over 
wrought  mind,  502 ;  hallucinations, 
503,  504 ;  arguments  for  his  canoniza 
tion,  505 ;  purpose  to  gain  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  505  ;  his  Catholicism,  505 ; 
his  urgency  to  enslave  the  Indians, 
505, 506 ;  his  scheme  of  repartimientos 
506 ;  adopts  garb  of  the  Franciscans, 
508  ;  mercenary,  508,  509 ;  the  mov 
ing  light  of  his  first  voyage,  510 ;  in 
sistence  on  territorial  power,  510 ; 
claims  inspiration,  511  ;  his  heirs,  513  ; 
his  discoveries  denied  after  his  death, 
514,  520;  his  territorial  power  lost 
by  his  descendants,  523  ;  table  of  his 
descendants,  524,  525  ;  his  male  line 
becomes  extinct,  526 ;  lawsuit  to  es 
tablish  the  succession,  526 ;  female 
line  through  the  Portogallos  fails, 


527;  now  represented  by  the  Lar- 
reategui  family,  528;  present  value 
of  the  estates,  528;  the  geographi 
cal  results  of  his  discoveries,  529; 
connection  with  early  maps,  533, 
534  ;  his  errors  in  longitude,  603  ;  his 
observations  of  magnetic  influence, 
632. 


Columbus,  Ferdinand  (bastard  son  of 
Columbus),  480,  482  ;  his  Historic,  39  ; 
doubts  respecting  it,  39 ;  his  career, 
40 ;  his  income,  40 ;  his  library,  40  ; 
its  catalogue  42;  English  editions  of 
the  Historie,  55;  his  birth,  166;  at 
school,  181 ;  made  page  of  the  Queen, 
331 ;  his  ability,  513 ;  goes  with  Di 
ego  to  Espaflola,  515 ;  aids  his  bro 
ther's  widow,  522;  an  arbiter,  522; 
owns  Ptolemy  (1513),  545;  his  disre 
gard  of  the  claims  urged  for  Vespu 
cius,  553 ;  his  Colon  de  Concordia, 
571 ;  arbiter  at  the  Congress  of  Bada- 
jos,  591 ;  advises  the  King,  591 ;  his 
house  at  Seville,  603  ;  at  the  Seville 
Conference,  604;  map  inscribed  to 
him,  605. 

Coma,  Guglielmo,  282. 

Conti,  Nicolo  di,  116,  509. 

Cook,  James,  voyage,  633,  658. 

Cordova,  Cathedral  of,  172. 

Coronel,  Pedro  Fernandez,  332,  364. 

Correa  da  Cunha,  Pedro,  106,  131. 

Correnti,  C.,  12. 

Corsairs,  71. 

Corsica,  claim  for  Columbus's  birth  in, 
77. 

Cortereal  discoveries,  577. 

Cortereal,  Gaspar,  manuscript,  facsimile, 
414 ;  his  voyage  to  Labrador,  415. 

Cortereal,  Joao  Vaz,  129. 

Cortereal,  Miguel,  his  handwriting,  fac 
simile,  416  ;  his  voyages,  417. 

Cortes,  Hernando,  in  Santo  Domingo, 
475 ;  sails  for  Mexico,  565 ;  his  map 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  567,  569,  607 ; 
his  exploring  expeditions,  568  ;  plan 
ning  to  explore  the  Pacific,  591 :  his 
Pacific  explorations,  610 ;  his  portrait. 
610. 

Cortes,  Martin,  630. 

Cosa,  Juan  de  la,  426 ;  goes  to  the  new 
world,  262 ;  his  charts,  343,  345,  380- 
382  ;  with  Ojeda,  373. 

Cosco,  Leander  de,  15. 

Costa  Rica,  map,  443. 

Cotabanama,  305,  474. 

Coulomp,  71. 

Cousin,  Jean,  on  the  Brazil  coast,  174. 

Crignon,  Pierre,  556. 

Criminals  enlisted  by  Columbus,  332. 

Crossbows,  258. 

Cross-staff,  261 , 632, 648.  See  Back-staff, 


INDEX. 


667 


Cuba,  reached  by  Columbus,  223  ;  be 
lieved  to  be  Asia,  226  ;  named  Juana, 
228  ;  its  southern  coast  explored,  291  ; 
insularity  of,  384 ;  Wytfliet's  map, 
384-85;  its  cartography,  424;  Co- 
lumbus's  views,  425 ;  circumnavi 
gated,  565. 

Cubagua,  355. 

Cushing-,  Caleb,  on  the  Everett  MS., 
4;  on  Navarrete,  28;  on  Columbus's 
landfall,  217. 

Darien,  isthmus,  map,  446. 

Dati,  versifies  Columbus's  first  letter,  15. 

D'Avezae  on  the  Historic,  45. 

Davis,  John,  in  the  north,  643,  648 ;  his 
Seaman's  Secrets,  649. 

Dead  reckoning-,  94. 

De  Bry,  51 ;  his  engraving  of  Colum 
bus,  66,  68. 

Degree,  length  of,  124. 

Del  Cano,  576. 

Demarcation.     See  Bull  of. 

Demersey,  A.,  on  the  Mufloz  MSS.,  27. 

Denys,  Jean,  556. 

Desceliers  (or  Henri  II.)  map,  612,  624. 

Deza,  Diego  de,  161,  164,  170  ;  asked  to 
arbitrate  between  Columbus  and  the 
King,  486. 

Diaz,  Bart.,  on  the  African  coast,  151. 

Diaz,  Miguel,  322,  399. 

Diaz  de  Pisa,  Bernal,  284. 

Dogs  used  against  the  natives,  292,  312. 

Dominica,  266. 

Dominicans  in  Espailola,  508. 

Don,  Nicholas,  556. 

Donis,  Nicholas,  his  map,  140,  531. 

Drake,  Francis,  sees  Cape  Horn,  577; 
his  voyages,  643  ;  portrait,  645,  654. 

Drogeo,  6  55. 

Duro,  C.  F.,  Colon,  etc.,  54. 

Dutch,  the,  their  American  explora 
tions,  649. 

Earth,  sphericity  of,  118 ;  size  of,  121 ; 
how  far  known  before  Columbus, 
122. 

East  India  Company,  650. 

Eden,  R.,  Treaty se  of  the  Newe  India, 
537, 538  ;  Decades,  538 ;  Arte  of  Navi 
gation,  631 ;  influence  in  England, 
639. 

Eden  (paradise),  situation  of,  357. 

Eggleston,  Edward,  597,  599. 

Enciso,  Fernandes  d',  Geographia,  587. 

Encomiendas,  314. 

England,  reception  of  Columbus's  news 
in,  167  ;  earliest  mention  of  the  Span 
ish  discoveries,  537  ;  sec -manuals  in, 
631 ;  effects  on  discovery  of  her  com 
mercial  spirit,  632  j  her  explorations, 
639;  beginning  of  her  colonization, 
648 ;  her  later  explorations,  650 ;  her 


seamen  in  the  Caribbean  Sea,  373, 
426,  427 ;  on  the  eastern  coast  of 
North  America,  601. 

Enriquez,  Beatrix,  connection  with  Co 
lumbus.  166;  noticed  in  Columbus's 
will,  489. 

Equator,  crossed  by  the  Portuguese, 
134;  first  crossed  on  the  American 
side,  376. 

Eric  the  Red,  139,  140,  144,  146. 

Escobar,  Diego  de,  sent  to  Jamaica  by 
Ovando,  467. 

Escobar,  Roderigo  de,  451. 

Escoveda,  Rodrigo  de,  235. 

Espanola,  discovered  and  named,  228, 
229 ;  its  divisions,  305  ;  Charlevoix's 
map,  306  ;  Ramusio's  map  of,  369 ; 
Ovando  recalled,  515;  Diego  Colon 
governor,  515  ;  sugar  cane  raised,  520. 

Esquibel,  Juan  de,  474. 

Estotiland,  635. 

Evangelista,  297. 

Everett,  A.  H.,  on  Irring's  Columbus, 
56. 

Everett,  Edward,  possessed  a  copy  of 
Columbus's  privileges,  3. 

Faber,  Jacobus,  Meteorologia,  546. 

Faber,  Dr.  John,  540. 

Fagundes,  566. 

Faria  y  Sousa,  Europa  Portuguesa,  241. 

Farrer,  Domina,  her  map,  652,  654,  655. 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  his  character,  159  ; 
his  unwillingness  to  embark  in  Co 
lumbus's  plans,  178 ;  his  appearance, 
245 ;  grows  apathetic,  327  ;  his  por 
trait,  328 ;  his  distrust  of  Columbus, 
393,  427,  479,  486 ;  sends  Bobadilla 
to  Santo  Domingo,  394 ;  dies.  520, 
555. 

Ferdinando,  Simon,  646. 

Fernandina,  221. 

Ferrelo,  612. 

Ferrer,  Jayme,  letter  to  Columbus,  349. 

Fieschi,  G.  L.,  9. 

Fiesco,  B.,  462. 

Finseus,  Orontius,  his  map,  607-609. 

Flamsteed,  648. 

Floating  islands,  190. 

Flores  discovered,  88. 

Florida  coast  early  known,  424 ;  dis 
covered,  558  ;  English  on  the  coast, 
632. 

Fonseca.  Juan  Rodriguez  de,  relations 
with  Columbus  begin,  256 ;  his  char 
acter,  256,  257,  316;  quarrel  with 
Diego  Colon,  318;  allowed  to  grant 
licenses,  329;  lukewarm  towards  the 
third  voyage  of  Columbus,  333  ;  made 
bishop  of  Placentia,  484. 

Fontanarossa,  G.  de,  77. 

Fonte,  de,  653. 

Fort  Concepcion,  309. 


668 


INDEX. 


Fox,  G.  A.,  on  Columbus' s  landfall, 
214,  216. 

Fox,  Luke,  his  map,  651. 

France,  her  share  in  American  explora 
tions,  633. 

Franciscus,  monk,  his  map,  606. 

Franciscans  in  Espafiola,  508. 

Freire.  Juan,  his  map,  577,  578,  612. 

Friess.     See  Frisius. 

Frisius,  Laurentius,  his  map  (1522),  552, 
588. 

Frisland,  137,  145. 

Frobisher,  his  voyages,  640 ;  portrait, 
643 ;  his  map,  644. 

Fuca,  Da,  653. 

Fulgoso,  B.,  Collectanea,  32. 

Furlani,  Paolo  de,  619. 

Fuster,  BibL  Valenciana,  27. 

Gali,  Francisco,  646. 

Gallo,  Ant.,  on  Columbus,  30. 

Gama,  Joao  da,  652. 

Gama,  Vasco  da,  portrait,  334 ;  his  voy 
age,  334. 

Ganong,  W.  F.,  612. 

Garay,  566 ;  his  map,  568. 

Gastaldi,  his  map,  616-618,  629. 

Gelcich,  E.,  on  the  Historic,  46. 

Gemma  Frisius,  nautical  improvements, 
603,  648. 

Genoa,  records,  21 ;  Columbus's  early 
life  in,  75,  77  ;  citizens  of,  in  Spain, 
158 ;  Columbus's  monument,  163 ; 
favored  in  Columbus's  will,  330; 
Bank  of  St.  George,  435,  483  ;  her 
citizens  in  Portugal,  86 ;  on  the  At 
lantic,  128. 

Geraldini,  Antonio,  158. 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  his  voyages, 
646  ;  his  map,  647. 

Giocondo,  538. 

Giovio.     See  Jovius. 

Giustiniani,  his  Psalter,  30,  83  ;  his  An 
nals  of  Genoa,  30. 

Glareanus  on  the  ancients'  knowledge 
of  America,  606. 

Glassberger,  Nicholas,  400. 

Globus  MiChdi,  536,  537,  546. 

Gold  mines,  232  ;  scant  returns,  332. 

Gomara,  the  historian,  39. 

Gomera  (Canaries),  195. 

Gomez,  Estevan,  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
561,  589,  591 ;  cartographical  results, 
591-593. 

Gonzales,  keeper  of  the  Spanish  archives, 
28. 

Goodrich,  Aaron,  Columbus,  59,  60,  504. 

Gorricio,  Gaspar,  433,  484;  friend  of 
Columbus,  18 ;  adviser  of  Diego  Colon, 
348. 

Gorvalan,  280. 

Gosnold  on  the  New  England  coast,  652 

Granada,  siege  of,  175. 


Grand  Turk  Island,  216. 

Great  circle  sailing,  341,  649. 

Great  Khan,  letter  to,  180. 

Greenland,  139,  140 ;  held  to  be  a  part 
of  Europe,  140,  145,  152;  part  of 
Asia,  143 ;  a  link  between  Europe 
and  Asia,  616 ;  delineated  on  maps 
(Zeni),634,  643;  (1467),  636  ;  (1482), 
531,  532;  (1508),  532;  (1511),  577; 
(1513),  544 ;  (1527),  600  ;  (1576),  647 ; 
(1582),  598. 

Grenada,  o55. 

Grimaldi,  G.  A.,  21. 

Grijalva,  565  ;  portrait,  566. 

Gronlandia,  145.     See  Greenland. 

Grothe,  H.,  Da  Vinci,  117. 

Grynseus,  Simon.   Novus  Orbis,  607. 

Guacanagari,  the  savage  king,  234,  273, 
275,  277;  faithful,  309;  maltreated, 
316. 

Guadaloupe,  268,  323. 

Guanahani,  seen  by  Columbus,  211. 

Guarionex,  305,  309 ;  his  conspiracy, 
362,  364 ;  embarked  for  Spain,  440 ; 
lost,  440. 

Guelves,  Count  of,  524,  526. 

Guerra,  Luis,  375. 

Guevara,  Fernand  de,  watched  by  Rol- 
dan,  389. 

Gulf  Stream,  131,  352,  433. 

Gutierrez,  Pedro,  208. 

Hadley's  quadrant,  648. 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  Principall  Naviga 
tions,  637 ;  Western  Planting,  647  ;  his 
interest  in  explorations,  650. 

Hall,  Edw.,  Chronicle,  14. 

Halley,  Edmund,  his  variation  charts, 
649. 

Hammocks,  219,  222. 

Hanno,  the  Carthaginian,  97. 

Harrison's  chronometer,  649. 

Harrisse,  Henry,  his  works  on  Colum 
bus,  7,  51 ,  52  ;  on  the  Biblioteca  Co- 
lombina,  41 ;  attacks  the  character  of 
the  Historic  of  1571,  44 ;  his  Fernando 
Colon,  45  ;  Les  Colombo,  71  ;  Bank  of 
St.  George,  73. 

Hartmann,  George,  his  gores,  621. 

Hauslab  globes,  547,  548. 

Hawkins,  John,  632. 

Hawkins,  Wm.,  601. 

Hayna  mines,  322. 

Hayna  country,  360. 

Hayti.     See  Espafiola. 

Heimskringla,  140,  147. 

Helleland,  145. 

Helps,  Arthur,  on  the  Spanish  Conquest 
and  Columbus,  58. 

Henry  the  Navigator,  Prince,  death, 
82,  100  ;  his  navigators,  88,  97  ;  his 
relations  to  African  discovery,  91  ;  his 
school,  92 ;  his  portrait,  93  ;  his  char- 


INDEX. 


669 


acter,  97 ;  his  tomb,  101 ;  his  statue, 

102. 

Henri  II.,  map.     See  Desceliers. 
Herrera,  the  historian,  50 ;  map  of  Ba 
hamas,  212. 

Higuay,  805  ;  conquered,  474. 
Hispaniola.     See  Espariola. 
Hoces,  F.  de,  discovers  Cape  Horn,  576. 
Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  169 ;   Co- 

lumbus's   purpose   to   rescue   it,  170, 

180. 

Holywood,  John,  Sphera  Mundi,  93. 
Homem's  map,  614,  616. 
Hondius,  637. 
Hondiiras,  early  voyages  to,  337,  339 ; 

map,  443 ;  coast  explored,  562. 
Hood,  Dr.  Thomas,  650. 
Hudson's  Bay,  650. 
Hudson  Bay  Company,  658. 
Hudson  River,  649. 

Hudson,  Heinrich,  his  voyages,  649,  650. 
Hues,  Robert,  Tractatus,  191,  201,  301. 
Humboldt,  Alex,  von,  Exam.    Critique, 

51 ;  on  Columbus,  502,  504. 

Ibarra,  Bernaldo  de,  347. 

Iceland,  Columbus  at,  135  ;  early  map. 
136. 

India,  African  route  to,  90  ;  strait  to, 
sought,  535,  555,  567,  569,  587,  591 ; 
discovered  at  the  south,  576. 

Indies,  name  why  used,  240. 

Irving,  W.,  Columbus,  55,  60  ;  his  his 
torical  habit,  233,  234  ;  on  Columbus, 
501,  505. 

Isabella  of  Spain,  her  character,  159, 
479  ;  yields  to  Columbus's  views,  178 ; 
her  appearance,  245  ;  her  interest  in 
Columbus's  second  voyage,  258  ;  her 
faith  in  Columbus  shaken,  393,  396, 
409;  dies,  479;  her  will  aboiit  the 
Indians,  482. 

Isabella  (island),  222. 

Isabella  (town)  founded,  278. 

Italy,  her  relations  to  American  discov 
ery,  33 ;  her  conspicuous  mariners, 
104,  632  ;  and  the  new  age,  496  ;  car 
tographers  of ,  601, 628. 

Jack-staff,  261. 

Jacquet  Island,  111. 

Jamaica,  possibly  Babeque,  230 ;  called 
Yamaye,  235 ;  discovered  by  Colum 
bus,  291 ;  again  visited,  300 ;  Colum 
bus  at,  during  his  last  voyage,  457. 

Januarius,  Hanibal,  22. 

Japan,  supposed  position,  207.  See  Ci- 
pango. 

Jayme,  92. 

Jesso,  652,  653. 

John  of  Anjou,  82,  84. 

Jorrin,  J.  S.,  Varios  Autografos,  7. 

Jovius   (Giovio)   Paulus,  his   biography, 


32;  his  picture  of  Columbus,  61,  63; 

Elogia,  64. 
Juana.     See  Cuba. 
Julius  II.,  Pope,  portrait,  517. 

Kettell,  Samuel,  10. 
Khan,  the  Great,  90,  224. 
King's  Garden,  226. 
Kolno  (Skolno),  138. 
Kublai  Khan,  90,  224*. 

Labrador  coast,  Normane  on,  413  ;  Por 
tuguese  on,  415. 

Lachine,  613. 

Lafuente  y  Alcantara,  13. 

Lake,  Arthur,  184. 

Lamartine  on  Columbus,  75. 

La  mina  (Gold  coast),  101. 

Laon  globe,  123,  190. 

Larreategui  family,  representatives  of 
Columbus,  528. 

Las  Casas,  B.,  his  abridgment  of  Colum 
bus's  journal,  10  ;  his  papers  of  Co 
lumbus,  19,  47  ;  his  Historia,  45,  46 ; 
his  career,  47  ;  his  portrait,  48 ;  his 
pity  for  the  Indians,  50 ;  his  father 
goes  to  the  new  world,  262  ;  at  Santo 
Domingo,  429 ;  appeals  for  the  In 
dians,  520 ;  on  the  respective  merits 
of  Columbus  and  Vespucius,  553. 

Latitude,  errors  in  observing,  261. 

Latitude  and  longitude  on  maps,  601, 
602. 

Laurentian  portolano  (1351),  87. 

Ledesma,  Pedro,  454,  470. 

Leibnitz,  Codex,  71. 

Leigh,  Edward,  601. 

Lemoyne,  G.  B.,  Colombo,  33. 

Lenox  globe,  571. 

Lepe,  Diego  de,  on  the  South  American 
coast,  377. 

Le*ry,  Baron  de,  556. 

Liria,  Duke  of  527. 

Lisbon,  naval  battle  near,  103  ;  Genoese 
in,  104. 

Loadstone,  its  history,  93.     See  Magnet. 

Log,  ship's,  95,  96,  631. 

Lok,  Michael,  map  (1582),  597,  598, 
616,  624,  646. 

Long  Island  Sound,  616. 

Longitude,  methods  of  ascertaining,  259 ; 
difficulties  in  computing,  602,  648, 
650.  See  Latitude. 

Longrais,  Jouon  des,  Cartier,  612. 

Lorgues,  Roselly  de,  on  Columbus,  53, 
60,503,505.  ' 

Loyasa,  576. 

Luca,  the  Florentine  engineer,  22. 

Lucayans,  218,  219,  271;  destroyed, 
219,  515. 

Lud,  Walter,  439. 

Lully,  Raymond,  Arte  de  Navegar,  93. 

Luxan,  Juan  de,  288. 


670 


INDEX. 


Machin,  Robert,  at  Madeira,  87. 

McClure,  R.  L.,  660. 

Madeira  discovered,  86,  88. 

Madoc,  138. 

Magellan's  voyage,  571,  589 ;  his  por 
trait,  572  ;  compared  with  Columbus, 
574  ;  maps  of  his  straits,  575,  576. 

Magnet,  its  history,  93 ;  use  of,  198 ; 
needle,  632;  pole,  203,  630.  See 
Needle. 

Magnus,  Bishop,  139. 

Maguana,  305. 

Maine,  Gulf  of,  616,  646. 

Maiollo  map  (1527),  570,  595,  597. 

Major,  R.  H.,  on  Columbus,  58  ;  on  the 
naming  of  America,  538. 

Malaga,  Columbus  at  the  siege  of,  165. 

Maldonado,  Melchior,  277,  653. 

Mandeville,  Sir  John,  his  travels,  116. 

Mangon,  224,  294. 

Manhattan,  649. 

Manicaotex,  312. 

Manilius,  107. 

Mappemonde,  Portuguese  (1490),  152. 

Maps,  fifteenth  century,  128 ;  projections 
of,  603.  See  Portolano. 

Marchena,  Antonio  de,  259. 

Marchena,  Juan  Perez  de,  155 ;  por 
trait,  155 ;  intercedes  for  Columbus, 
175. 

Marchesio,  F.,  21. 

Margarita,  355. 

Margarite,  Pedro,  at  St.  Thomas,  288 ; 
his  career,  307. 

Marie" jol,  J.  H.,  Peter  Martyr,  35. 

Marien,  305. 

Marigalante,  266. 

Mariguana,  216. 

Marin,  on  Venetian  commerce,  9. 

Marine  atlases,  649. 

Markham,  Clements  R. ,  his  Hues,  191. 

Markland,  145. 

Martens,  T.,  printer,  16. 

Martines,  his  map,  616. 

Martinez,  Fernando,  108. 

Martyr,  Peter,  has  letters  from  Colum 
bus,  19  ;  account  of,  34  ;  knew  Colum 
bus,  35  ;  his  letters,  34 ;  De  Orbe  Novo, 
or  Decades,  35  ;  on  Isabella,  160  ;  on 
Columbus's  discovery,  247  ;  his  map, 
(1511),  422,  556,  557 ;  fails  to  notice 
the  death  of  Columbus,  491. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  616. 

Mastic,  225. 

Matheos,  Hernan  Perez,  347. 

Mayobanex,  364. 

Mauro,  Fra,  his  world  map,  99,  101, 
116. 

Medina,  Pedro  de,  Arte  de  Navegar, 
630;  map,  628,  629. 

Medina-Celi,  Duke  of,  173 ;  entertains 
Columbus,  169. 

Medina-Sidonia,  Duke  of,  173. 


Mela,  Pomponius,  107;  his  world-map, 
584 ;  Cosmographia,  585. 

Mendez,  Diego,  his  exploits,  451,  452, 
456,  458 ;  sails  from  Jamaica  for 
Espaflola,  461 ;  arrives,  466 ;  sends  to 
rescue  Columbus,  470 ;  goes  to  Spain, 
471 ;  appealed  to  by  Columbus,  479, 
487  ;  denied  office  by  Diego  Colon, 
516. 

Mendoza,  Hurtado  de,  610,  612. 

Mendoza,  Pedro  Gonzales  de,  159,  176. 

Mercator,  Gerard,  pupil  of  Gemma, 
603 ;  his  earliest  map,  621-623  ;  his 
globe  of  1541,  554,  621,  625  ;  his  pro 
jection,  636  ;  his  map  (1569),  638 ;  por 
trait,  639. 

Mercator,  R.,  his  map  of  the  polar 
regions,  202. 

Mermaids,  236. 

Meropes,  126. 

Mississippi  River  discovered,  560. 

Molineaux,  his  map,  616,  648. 

Moluccas  occupied  by  the  Portuguese, 
569;  dispute  over  their  longitude, 
590 ;  sold  by  Spain  to  Portugal,  591. 

Moniz,  Felipa,  wife  of  Columbus,  105; 
her  family,  106. 

Monte  Peloso,  Bishop  of,  15. 

Moon,  eclipse  of,  465. 

Morton,  Thos.,  New  English  Canaan. 
620. 

Mosquito  coast,  444. 

Moxica,  Adrian  de,  389. 

Moya,  Marchioness  of,  175,  178. 

Miiller,  Johannes,  94. 

Muftoz,  J.  B.,  his  labors,  27  ;  his  Histo- 
ria,  27. 

Miinster,  Seb.,  his  maps,  621,  624  (1532) ; 
535,  537  (1540) ;  596,  597 ;  portrait, 
602. 

Muratori,  his  collection,  30. 

Murphy,  Henry  C.,  595  ;  his  library,  17. 

Muscovy  Company,  650. 

Myritius,  his  map,  618. 

Nancy  globe,  606,  607. 

Napier,  logarithms,  651. 

Nautical  almanac,  649. 

Navasa,  island,  465. 

Navarrete,  M.  F.  de,  his  Coleccion,  27 ; 

the  French  edition,  28 ;  criticised  by 

Caleb  Gushing,  28. 
Navidad,  La,  destroyed,273. 
Navigation,   art    of,    131 ;    Columbus's 

method,  237,  260. 
Needle,  no  variation  of  the,  198,  254 ; 

its  change  of  position,  199,  206,  254. 

See  Magnet. 
Negroes,  first  seen  as  slaves  in  Europe, 

98  ;  early  introduced  in  Espafiola,  429, 

488. 

New  Albion,  645. 
New  England,  named,  649. 


INDEX. 


671 


Newfoundland  banks,  earl y  visits,  129, 
340. 

Newfoundland,  visited  by  Gilbert,  040. 

New  France,  033. 

Nicaragua,  map  of,  443. 

Nicuessa,  Diego  de,  in  Castilla  del  Oro, 
517,  502. 

Nino,  Pedro  Alonso,  325 ;  on  the  pearl 
coast,  375. 

Nombre  de  Dios,  Cape,  448. 

Nordenskiold  on  Columbus's  discovery, 
248;  his  Facsimile  Atlas,  531,  532, 
546,  548,  573,  577,  578,  581,  582,  588, 
589,  635,  630,  038;  map  gores  dis 
covered  by  him,  549. 

Norman  seamanship,  94 ;  explorations, 
555,  550. 

Norman,  Robt.,  632. 

North  America  held  to  be  continuous 
with  Asia,  576,  584.  See  America. 

Northwest  passage,  the  search  for,  529, 
040,  048,  050-052,  058  ;  mapped,  659. 

Norumbega,  599,  616,  633. 

Notarial  records  in  Italy,  20  ;  in  Spain, 
25  ;  in  Portugal,  26. 

Nuremberg,  Behaim's  globe  at,  191. 

Ocampo,  565. 

Oceanic  currents,  130,  603. 

Odericus  Vitalis,  147. 

Oderigo,  Nicolo,  483. 

Ojeda,  Alonso  de,  in  Columbus's  second 
expedition  262,  270  ;  at  St.  Thomas, 
289  ;  attacked  by  Caonabo,  308  ;  cap 
tures  Caonabo,  313 ;  fired  by  Colum 
bus's  experiences  in  Paria,  372  ;  is  per 
mitted  by  Fonseca  to  sail  thither,  372  ; 
reaches  Venezuela,  373 ;  at  Espanola, 
373 ;  returns  to  Spain,  375  ;  voyage 
(1499),  514;  his  (1502)  voyage,  427; 
in  New  Andalusia,  517,  562. 

Oliva,  Perez  de,  on  Columbus,  43,  45. 

Ophir  of  Solomon,  322. 

Orient,  European  notions  of,  90,  109. 

Ortegon,  Diego,  528. 

Ortelius,  his  Theatrum,  627,  638 ;  por 
trait,  640  ;  his  map  of  America,  641. 

Ortis,  Alonso,  Los  Tratados,  248. 

Ovando,  Nicholas  de,  sent  to  Santo  Do 
mingo,  429  ;  receives  Mendez,  466 ; 
his  rule  in  Espanola,  466,  471 ;  sends 
a  caraval  to  Jamaica  to  observe  Co 
lumbus,  467 ;  sends  to  rescue  him, 
471 ;  receives  him  at  Santo  Domingo, 
475  ;  recalled  from  Espanola,  515. 

Oviedo,  on  the  first  voyage,  17 ;  as  a 
writer,  38;  his  career,  38;  Historia, 
39 ;  on  Isabella,  160 ;  on  the  arms  of 
Columbus,  251 ;  on  his  motto,  251. 

Oysters,  354. 

Pacheco,  his  Coleccion,  29. 
Pachcco,  Carlos,  527. 


Pacific  Ocean  named,  576  ;  explorations, 
018 ;  Drake  in  the,  044 ;  sees  Cape 
Horn,  044 ;  Gali's  explorations,  640  ; 
discoveries,  052 ;  wild  theories  about 
its  coast,  052,  656,  658. 

Paesi  novamente  retrovati,  417. 
Palos,  182. 

Panama  founded,  565. 

Papal  authority  to  discover  new  lands, 
252. 

Paria,  Gulf  of,  map,  353 ;  land  of,  354. 

Parmentier,  Jean,  556. 

Passamonte,  Miguel,  518. 

Pavia,  university  at,  80. 

Pearls,  354. 

Pedrarias,  564. 

Peragallo,  Prospero,  Historie  di  F.  Co 
lombo,  46. 

Perestrello,  Bart.,  88. 

Perestrello  family,  105. 

Peringskiold,  147. 

Peru  discovered,  564,  565. 

Pesaro,  F.,  9. 

Peschel,  Oscar,  on  the  Historie,  46. 

Peter  the  Great,  053. 

Pezagno,  the  Genoese,  86. 

Phoanicians  as  explorers,  127. 

Philip  II.,  of  Spain,  523. 

Philip  the  Handsome,  513. 

Pineda,  560. 

Pinelo,  Francisco,  257. 

Pinilla,  T.  R.,  Colon  en  Espana,  51. 

Pinzon,  Martin  Alonso,  at  Rabida,  174 ; 
engages  with  Columbus,  183  ;  deserts 
Columbus,  226  ;  returns,  235 ;  reaches 
Palos  and  dies,  242. 

Pinzon,  Vincente  Yanez,  with  Columbus, 
183 ;  his  voyage  (1494)  across  the 
equator,  376  ;  sees  Cape  St.  Augus 
tine,  376 ;  at  Espanola,  377. 

Pinzon  and  Solis's  expedition,  570. 

Piracy,  81. 

Pirckheimer,  636. 

Pizarro,  562,  564. 

Plaanck,  the  printer,  15. 

Plato  and  Atlantis,  126. 

Plutarch's  Saturnian  Continent,  126. 

Polar  regions,  map  of,  202. 

Polo,  Marco,  90,  498;  annotations  of 
Columbus  in,  7  ;  in  Cathay,  114 ;  his 
narrative  Milione,  114;  his  portrait, 
115  ;  known  to  Columbus,  115. 

Pompey  stone,  560. 

Ponce  de  Leon,  Juan,  179,  556 ;  goes  to 
the  New  World,  262 ;  portrait,  558  ; 
his  track,  559. 

Porcacchi,  his  map,  620. 

Porras,  Frangois  de,  437;  his  revolt, 
462  ;  ended,  470 ;  at  court,  478. 

Porto  Bello,  448. 

Porto  Rico,  236,  272,  517. 

Porto  Santo  discovered,  88,  105,  106- 

Portolanos,  530.     See  Maps. 


672 


INDEX. 


Potatoes,  225. 

Portogallo,  Alonso  de,  Count  of  Guelves, 
526. 

Portogallo,  Nuflo  de,  becomes  Duke  of 
Veragua,  524,  526. 

Portugal,  archives,  25 ;  attractions  for 
Columbus,  85  ;  spirit  of  exploration 
in,  86;  her  expert  seamen,  86,  92; 
Genoese  in  her  service,  86  ;  discovers 
Madeira,  86 ;  and  the  Azores,  86 ;  Co 
lumbus  in,  103,  149 ;  the  King  sends 
an  expedition  to  anticipate  Columbus's 
discovery,  153 ;  Columbus' s  second 
visit,  168 ;  the  bull  of  demarcation, 
254 ;  negotiations  with  Spain,  255 ; 
her  pursuit  of  African  discovery, 
334 ;  establishes  claims  in  South 
America,  through  the  voyage  of  Ca- 
bral,  377  ;  sends  out  Coelho  (1501), 
410 ;  settlements  on  the  Labrador 
coast,  415 ;  maps  in,  falsified,  417 ; 
the  spread  of  cartographical  ideas, 
423 ;  earliest  maps,  533,  534 ;  denies 
them  to  other  nations,  534 ;  her  sea 
men  on  the  Newfoundland  coast,  555, 
556  ;  push  the  African  route  to  the 
Moluccas,  569  ;  on  the  coast  of  Brazil, 
570 ;  on  the  Pacific  coast,  592  ;  carto 
graphical  progress  in,  602. 

Prado,  prior  of,  508. 

Prescott's,  W.  H.,  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella,  57 ;  on  Columbus,  501,  503. 

Ptolemy,  influence  of,  91,  529,  638 ;  por 
trait,  530;  maps  in,  530,  531,  627; 
editions,  108;  (1511),  577;  (1513), 
544,  545,  546,  582,  584  ;  (Stobnicza), 

,  578  ;  (1522),  588  ;  (1525),  588 ;  (1535), 
555,588;  (1541),  588. 

Queen's  Gardens,  293,  299. 

Quibian,  450 ;  his  attacks,  451  ;  cap 
tured,  451 ;  escapes,  451. 

Quinsay,  121,  124,  566,  607. 

Quintanilla,  Alonzode,  158,  165,  176, 
178. 

Rabida,  Convent  of,  154 ;  at  what  date 
was  Columbus  there  ?  155,  173. 

Rae,  J.  E.  S.,  12. 

Ralegh,  Sir  Walter,  his  American  pro 
jects,  647. 

Ramusio  on  Columbus,  37- 

Regiomontanus,  94,  301  ;  his  astrolabe, 
95,  96;  Ephemerides,  131. 

Reinel,  Pedro,  his  map,  534. 

Reisch,  Margarita  Phil.,  582,  587,  601; 
map,  583,  587. 

Remesal's  Chyapa.  161. 

Rene,  Duke  of  Provence,  82,  538,  543. 

Repartimientos,  814,  506,  507,  518. 

Resende,  Garcia  de,  Choronica,  33. 

Ribero,  map  of  the  Antilles,  383  ;  map 
(1529),  562,  605;  invents  a  ship's 


pump,  603 ;  at  the  Seville  conference^ 

604. 

Ringmann,  M.,  538. 
Rink,  Henrik,  146. 
Riquelme,  Pedro,  389,  390. 
Robertson,  Wm.,  America,  55. 
Robertus    Monarchus,  Bellum    Christia* 

riorum  Principum,  17. 
Roberval,  614. 
Rodriguez,  Sebastian,  175. 
Roldan   revolts,   362,  366;    reinstated, 

370;    sent  to   confront  Ojeda,   374; 

watched   by   Moxica,   389;   sails  for 

Spain,  440 ;  lost,  440. 
Romans  on  the  Atlantic,  127. 
Roselly  de  Lorgues,  his  efforts  to  effect 

canonization    of    Columbus,   53,    60; 

503,  505. 

Ross,  Sir  John,  651. 
Rotz,  map,  612  ;    Boke  of  Idiography, 

613. 

Roxo,  Cape,  passed,  99. 
Rubruquis,  90,  121. 
Ruscelli,  his  map,  616,  617. 
Rut,  John,  601. 
Ruy  de  Pina,  archivist  of  Portugal,  33, 

149. 
Ruysch,  map,  143,  532 ;  Ptolemy,  341. 

Sabellicus,  103. 

Sacrobosco.     See  Holywood. 

Sagas,  146. 

Saguenay  River,  616. 

St.  Brandan's  Island,  112. 

St.  Die",  college  at,  538. 

St.  Jerome,  monks  of,  508. 

St.  Lawrence,  Gulf  of,  612. 

St.  Thomas  (fort),  287. 

St.  Thomas  (island),  231. 

Saints'     days,      suggest      geographical 
names,  229. 

Salamanca,  council   of,  161,  164;  Uni 
versity,  162. 

Salcedo,  Diego  de,  goes  to  Jamaica,  471. 

Samaot,  221. 

San  Jorge  da  Mina,  134. 

San  Salvador,  211,  215. 

Sanarega,  Bart.,  21,30. 

Sanchez,  Gabriel,  letter  to,  11. 

Sanchez,  Juan,  451  ;  killed,  470. 

Sanchez,  Rodrigo,  209. 

Sandacourt,  J.  B.  de,  540. 

Santa  Cruz,  Alonso  de,  203. 

Santa  Cruz  (island),  271. 

Santa  Maria  de  la  Concepcion,  220. 

Santa  Maria  de  las  Cuevas,  25. 

Santangel,  Luis  de,  11,  175,  178. 

Santo  Domingo,  archives,  26 ;  founded, 
360  ;  cathedral  at,  492,  493. 

Sanuto,  Livio,  Geographia,  201. 

Sanuto,  Marino,  his  diary,  421  ;  cartog 
rapher,  86. 

Sargasso  Sea,  204. 


INDEX. 


673 


Savona,  records  of,  20;  the  Colombos 
of,  74. 

Saxo  Grammaticus,  147. 

Schoner,  Johann,  his  globe,  551,  572 ; 
his  charges  against  Vespucius,  554 ; 
Opusculum  geographicum,  555, 567, 607 ; 
Luculentissima  descriptio,  587 ;  por 
trait,  588  ;  De  insulis,  589 ;  his  alleged 
globe,  589,  590 ;  his  variable  beliefs, 
607. 

Schouten  defines  Tierra  del  Fuego,  577. 

Sea-atlases,  603. 

Sea  of  Darkness,  86,  243  ;  fantastic  isl 
ands  of,  111. 

Sea-manuals,  630. 

Seamanship,  early,  92. 

Seneca,  his  Medea,  118. 

Servetus,  his  Ptolemy,  555. 

Seven  Cities,  Island  of.     See  Antillia. 

Se  villa  d'  Oro,  471. 

Seville,  archives  at,  23 ;  cathedral  of, 
171 ;  cartographical  conference  at, 
603. 

Shea,  J.  G.,  on  the  Historie,  46 ;  on  the 
canonization  of  Columbus,  54 ;  on 
Columbus,  504. 

Ships  (fifteenth  century),  82 ;  speed  of, 
94;  of  Columbus's  time,  192,  193. 

Sierra  Leone  discovered,  101. 

Silber,  Franck,  the  printer,  15. 

Simancas,  archives,  22,  23  ;  view  of  the 
building,  24. 

Skralingeland,  145. 

Slavery,  efforts  of  Columbus  to  place 
the  Indians  in,  220,  230,  281,  282, 
311,  314,  318,  327,  331,  360,  367,  371, 
394,  402,  403,  429,  437,  472,  482,  505, 
506  ;  after  Columbus's  time,  518,  520. 

Smith,  Captain  John,  his  explorations, 
649. 

Smith,  Sir  Thomas,  630. 

Solinus,  107. 

Soria,  Juan  de,  257. 

Sousa,  A.  C.  de,  Hist.  Geneal.,  27. 

South  America,  earliest  picture  of  the 
natives,  336 ;  earliest  seen,  352 ;  its 
coast  nomenclature,  412  ;  supposed 
southern  cape,  573.  See  America. 

Southern  cross  first  seen,  99,  376. 

Spain,  archives  of,  22  ;  publication  of, 
28,29;  Cartasdelndias,29;  Colum 
bus  in,  154 ;  the  Genoese  in,  157  ;  map 
of  (1482),  165 ;  powerful  grandees, 
172  ;  the  bull  of  demarcation,  254 ; 
suspicious  of  Portugal,  254;  council 
for  the  Indies,  257 ;  plans  expedition 
to  the  north,  413  ;  her  authority  in 
the  Indies,  481  ;  the  Crown's  suit  with 
Diego  Colon,  514,  553;  King  Ferdi 
nand  dies,  520;  Charles  V.,  523; 
Philip  II.,  523;  her  secretiveness 
about  maps,  534,  554,  560,  627,  639  ; 
earliest  accounts  of  America,  587 ; 


her  seamen  in  the  St.  Lawrence  re 
gion,  555 ;  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  560 ; 
council  of  the  Indies  instituted,  591  ; 
failure  to  publish  map  in,  602 ;  Casa 
de  la  Contratacion,  603 ;  her  sea-man 
uals,  630. 

Spotorno,  Father,  Codice  diplom.  Go- 
lorn.  Americano,  4  ;  La  Tavola  di 
Bronzo,  5. 

Square  Gulf,  613. 

Staglieno,  the  Genoese  antiquary,  21, 
75. 

Stamler,  Johannis,  543. 

Stephanius,  Sigurd,  his  map,  144,  145. 

Stevens,  Henry,  533 ;  on  the  Historie, 
45 ;  on  La  Cosa's  map,  385 ;  his 
Schoner,  424. 

Stevens,  edition  of  Herrera,  55. 

Stimmer,  Tobias,  64. 

Stobnicza's  introduction  to  Ptolemy,  578 » 
his  map,  580,  581,  585. 

Stockfish,  128,  340. 

Strabo,  107. 

Straits  of  Hercules,  voyages  beyond, 
81. 

Strong,  Richard,  646. 

Sumner,  George,  246. 

Sylvanus,  his  edition  of  Ptolemy  first 
gave  maps  of  the  Cortereal  discover 
ies,  419;  edits  Ptolemy,  577;  his 
map,  579. 

Sylvius,  ^Eneas,  Historic^  7. 

Talavera,  Fernando  de,    156,  508;  and 

Columbus's  projects,  161,  176. 
Teneriffe,  195. 
Terra  Verde,  416,  420. 
The  vet,  Andre* ,  his  stories,  633. 
Thome,  Robt.,  map  (1527),  600-602. 
Thyle,  135. 
Tic'knor,  George,  10. 
Tobacco,  225. 
Tobago,  355. 

Tordesillas,  treaty  of,  310. 
Torre  do  Tombo,  archives,  25. 
Torres,  Antonio  de,  returns  to  Spain  in 

command  of  fleet,  282,  317. 
Tortuga,  228,  229. 
Toscanelli,   Paolo.    499;    his  letters,  7, 

107-109  ;  his  map,  49,  109,  110,  191 ; 

dies,  117. 

Triana,  Rodrigo  de,  211. 
Trinidad,  350. 

Tristan,  Diego,  his  fate,  452,  453. 
Tritemius,  Epistolarum  libri,  412. 
Trivigiano,  A.,  translates  Peter  Martyr, 

35  ;  Libretto,  36 ;  his  letters,  420. 
Tross  gores,  547. 

Ulloa,  Francisco  de,  610. 
Ullua,  Alfonso  de,  44. 
Ulpius  globe,  597. 
Usselinx,  W.,  20,  649. 


674 


INDEX. 


Vadianus,  portrait,  585. 

Vallejo,  Alonso  de,  347. 

Valsequa's  map,  88. 

Vancouver,  658. 

Variation.     See  Needle. 

Varnhagen  on  the  first  letter  of  Colum 
bus,  14;  and  the  early  cartography, 
382,  386. 

Vasconcellos,  149. 

Vatican  archives,  22 ;  maps,  633. 

Vaulx,  616. 

Velasco,  Pedro  de,  156. 

Vega  Real,  286 ;  its  natives,  288. 

Venegas,  California,  658. 

Venezuela,  named  by  Ojeda,  373. 

Venice,  cartographers  of,  629. 

Veradus,  17. 

Veragua,  map,  446 ;  characteristics  of 
its  coast,  447 ;  its  abortive  settle 
ment,  456;  Duke  of,  title  given  to 
Columbus's  grandson,  523. 

Verde,  Simone,  283,  347. 

Verde,  Cape,  reached,  98. 

Verrazano  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  592, 
593  ;  map,  594 ;  his  voyage  disputed, 
595 ;  his  so-called  sea,  596,  646 ;  dis 
coveries,  633. 

Verzellino,  G.  V.,  his  memoirs,  21. 

Vespucius,  Americus,  and  the  naming 
of  America,  36 ;  engaged  in  fitting 
out  the  second  expedition  of  Colum 
bus,  258;  supposed  voyage  (1497), 
336 ;  controversy  over,  338  ;  his  char 
acter  as  a  writer,  359 ;  his  first  voy 
age,  373  ;  in  Coelho's  fleet,  410 ;  his 
Mundus  Novus,  410,  411,  542 ;  rela 
tions  to  the  early  cartography,  412  ; 
his  name  bestowed  on  the  New  World, 
36,  412,  538-555;  personal  relations 
with  Columbus,  484  ;  his  narrative, 
485  ;  writes  an  account  of  his  voyage, 
538  ;  portrait,  539  ;  his  narrative  pub 
lished,  540  ;  his  discoveries  compared 
with  those  of  Columbus,  542,  543; 
miscalled  Albericus,  543 ;  suspects 
gravitation,  543;  not  called  in  the 


Columbus  lawsuit,  553  ;  charged  with 
being  privy  to  the  naming  of  Amer 
ica,  553,  554  ;  pilot  major,  553  ;  dies, 
553 ;  his  map,  553  ;  his  fame  in  Eng 
land,  554. 

Vienna,  geographers  at.  585. 

Villalobos,  612. 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  his  map,  581,  582. 

Vinland,  144,  146. 

Virginia,  named,  648  ;  map,  654,  655. 

Viscaino,  Sebastian,  652. 

Vopel,  Gaspar,  his  globe,  607. 

Volterra,  Maffei  de,  32. 

Vries,  De,  652. 

Wagenaer,  Lucas,  his  Spieghel,  603. 

Waldseemiiller,  his  career,  540 ;  Cosmo- 
graphice  Introductio,  540 ;  its  title, 
541 ;  edits  Ptolemy,  546, 582 ;  his  map, 
412. 

Walker,  John,  646. 

Warsaw  codex  (Ptolemy),  map,  635- 
637. 

Watling's  Island,  216. 

Watt,  Joachim.     See  Vadianus. 

Waymouth,  George,  650. 

West  India  Company,  649. 

White,  John,  his  map,  597,  599. 

Winsor,  Justin,  America,  59. 

Wright,  Edw.,  improves  Mercator's  pro 
jection,  637. 

Wytfliet,  his  maps,  630,  631. 

Xaragua,  305  ;  made  subject,  361,  473. 
Ximenes  in  power,  520. 

Yucatan,  629 ;  discovered,  565,  567. 

Zarco,  87. 

Zeni,  the,    138,   634;    their  map,  634, 

635  ;  their  influence,  642. 
Ziegler,  Schondia  and  its  map,  615,  617. 
Zoana  mela,  582,  583. 
Zorzi  or  Montalboddo,  Paesi  novamente 

retrovati,  36. 
Zuftiga,  Diego  Ortiz  de,  on  Seville,  169. 


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